Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Once known exclusively for enabling PIN-based debit card transactions at ATMs and then at the point of sale, the electronic funds transfer networks are broadening their payment options for merchants as they compete with global networks Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. for debit transactions. For example, payment processor First Data …
Read More »A Processing Glitch Hits Green Dot Just Days Before Contested Shareholder Meeting
Holders of the Walmart MoneyCard issued by Green Dot Corp.’s bank subsidiary have resorted to social media in the past few days to complain of not being able to check account balances or use their cards to make purchases and withdraw money from ATMs. The extent of the glitch is …
Read More »Rewards Cards: Rewarding for Issuers, but What About Merchants?
Rewards and loyalty cards are now common in the U.S. payments landscape, but new research findings show just how popular such cards have become. A study by Phoenix Marketing International says 93% of all credit card spending is now done on rewards cards, up from 88% in 2013. A separate …
Read More »The Opposing Sides in Green Dot’s Acrimonious Proxy Fight Dole Out Voting Advice
The increasingly dramatic proxy fight at prepaid card issuer Green Dot Corp., a fight that could cost its founder, chairman, and chief executive Steven W. Streit his job if management loses, took an interesting turn Monday when Green Dot said it would appoint George Gresham, a director nominee from the …
Read More »Excess Chip Card Inventories and Small Issuers’ Delayed EMV Rollouts Hurt CPI Card Group
Despite a 66% increase in shipments of EMV chip cards to U.S. credit and debit card issuers in the first quarter, shares of CPI Card Group Inc. plunged as much as 43% Thursday morning after the big card manufacturer reported financial results below its expectations. CPI said large issuers and …
Read More »PayPal, Grocery Stores Pull in the Reins on Gift Cards
Gift cards are the target of a crackdown in the first half of 2016. Next month, PayPal Holdings Inc. will no longer allow items equivalent to cash, including gift cards, to be covered by PayPal’s Seller Protection program for merchants. And prepaid card provider Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. recently reported …
Read More »Wal-Mart Sues Visa Over Network’s ‘Demand’ for Signatures on EMV Debit Sales
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sued Visa Inc. on Tuesday claiming that Visa is trying to make the retailer use signature verification for some EMV debit card transactions and route those transactions over Visa’s network rather than Wal-Mart’s preferred PIN-debit networks. The suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, …
Read More »Wall Street Punishes Square Despite the Merchant Processor’s Transaction Growth
Ouch. Merchant acquirer Square Inc. reported after Thursday’s market close that payment volume grew 45% year over year in the first quarter to $10.3 billion, but the company’s stock still fell 22% on Friday. Despite the strong payments growth, investors didn’t like a number of things they saw in San …
Read More »Square’s Payment Volume Jumps 45%, but Growth Measures Cause Loss To Widen
Boosted by a 45% increase in payment volume to $10.3 billion, Square Inc.’s adjusted revenues jumped 64% in the first quarter, but the merchant processor’s net loss doubled to $96.8 million on higher expenses as the company continued to invest like a startup for future growth. In its second earnings …
Read More »Bitcoin Processor BitPay Introduces a Prepaid Visa Card
BitPay Inc. made its name signing up merchants to accept the bitcoin digital currency, and now it’s adding a reloadable Visa prepaid card to its consumer-facing products. The card will enable users to make purchases at the millions of Visa-accepting merchants as well as the relative handful that accept bitcoin, …
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