Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The huge CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) expo is underway in Las Vegas, and out of it are coming the latest whiz-bang developments in payment technology. Among them: connected cars that enable the driver to pay for gas with a Visa card and authenticate the transaction with an iris …
Read More »Western Union Pays $60 Million Fine to Settle New York Claims of Lax Fraud Controls
The Western Union Co. and the New York Department of Financial Services announced Thursday that the wire-transfer market leader will pay a $60 million fine to settle alleged violations of the state’s anti-money-laundering laws, including transactions that supported human trafficking from China. New York authorities alleged that between 2004 and …
Read More »Appellate Court Sides With Merchants Challenging California’s Credit Card Surcharge Ban
A group of California small businesses won a victory Wednesday when a three-judge panel of a federal appellate court upheld their challenge to California’s ban on credit card surcharges, but a key aspect of the ruling applies only to the merchants who sued the state. Still, the ruling represents at …
Read More »Payments Companies Put on a Strong Wall Street Performance in 2017
Shares of publicly traded payments companies lost some strength as 2017 drew to a close, but for the year as a whole they handily outperformed three widely watched market indexes during one of Wall Street’s best years in recent memory. Twenty-nine electronic transaction processor stocks tracked by Chicago-based investment firm …
Read More »Citing U.S. Government Resistance, MoneyGram And Ant Financial Call Off Their Merger
Unable to get approval from federal authorities, wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. and China-based Ant Financial Services Group disclosed Tuesday that they have terminated their merger agreement, almost a year after it was first proposed. In a joint news release, the firms said they’re bailing on Ant’s plan to acquire …
Read More »Credit Card Payments Continue To Lead the Pack in Growth, Fed Study Finds
Boosted by e-commerce sales, growth in credit card payments far outpaced growth in debit card and automated clearing house payments in 2016, according to newly released findings from the Federal Reserve. Credit card transactions grew 10.2% from 2015’s levels to 37.3 billion and were valued at $3.27 trillion, the Fed …
Read More »Mobile Wallets Team Up With Networks, Issuers, and Merchants for Consumer Attention
The holiday shopping season may be coming to a close, but mashups between mobile-wallet providers, merchants, payment card networks, and card issuers are likely to continue indefinitely as all groups seek more transaction volume from consumers. Apple Inc. has been active this holiday season. In one promotion, Apple is offering …
Read More »Net Element’s Stock Jumps More Than 200% After the Processor Creates Blockchain Unit
Shares of the small merchant processor Net Element Inc. surged more than 200% Wednesday morning, apparently for no other reason than the company announced it was creating a business unit to pursue opportunities in the nascent blockchain industry. At about 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, Miami-based Net Element’s stock was priced …
Read More »New York C-Store Moves Fuel-Pump EMV Acceptance Forward With NCR Technology
The slow conversion of U.S. gasoline pumps from acceptance of only magnetic-stripe payment cards to EMV chip cards took a step forward Tuesday when payment technology provider NCR Corp. announced that a convenience store in upstate New York had completed its first outdoor EMV transaction using an NCR Optic upgrade …
Read More »After Rebuffing Atos, Gemalto Accepts $5.7 Billion Buyout Offer From Thales
Paris-based defense, aerospace, and transportation contractor Thales S.A. announced Monday that it has a €4.8 billion ($5.66 billion) deal to acquire Gemalto N.V., the world’s largest maker of chips for smart cards and mobile phones. The announcement that Thales plans to buy Gemalto for €51 per share ($60.1) comes just …
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