Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Confirming rumors that have been rife for days, merchant acquirer Global Payments Inc. announced late Tuesday that it will buy smaller rival Heartland Payment Systems Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $4.3 billion. At $100 per share, the deal represents an 18% premium over Heartland’s closing share price Tuesday. …
Read More »EMV Still Lifting VeriFone as Retailers Convert and the Oil Sector Begins Switchover
The conversion of U.S. mall and Main Street retailers to EMV chip card acceptance continues to lift VeriFone Systems Inc.’s North American revenues, but now the leading U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal maker and payment-services provider is getting ready for a rush of orders from petroleum marketers preparing to meet a key …
Read More »A Peek at One Processor’s Early EMV and Mobile Transactions Yields Some Surprises
An analysis of recent credit and debit card transaction data by credit-union services organization The Members Group gives some interesting insights about the penetration of two new payment channels in the U.S.—EMV chip cards and mobile payments. For example, EMV transactions amounted to 26% of all transactions that TMG processed over …
Read More »Florida Lawmakers Hope To Add Octane to Lottery Sales Through Fuel-Pump Purchases
Point-of-sale terminals and fuel pumps as lottery-ticket dispensers? That’s a question some states continue to mull, though Minnesota tried it and didn’t like it. The latest state trying to juice lottery sales by making card payments easier is Florida. Bills introduced last month in the state House and Senate would allow …
Read More »Attorneys Announce $39 Million Settlement for Target Data-Breach Class Action
Attorneys for financial-institution plaintiffs suing Target Corp. to recoup their costs arising from Target’s massive 2013 data breach announced a $39.4 million settlement on Wednesday intended to bring their class-action lawsuit against the big-box retailer to an end. A U.S. District Court judge in St. Paul, Minn., was expected to …
Read More »Holiday Mobile Payments Predicted To Grow 47%, With All E-Commerce Up 14%
Powered by growth in mobile payments, so-called digital commerce for 2015’s holiday season will grow 14.3% to $70.1 billion from last season’s $61.3 billion, Internet metrics firm comScore Inc. predicted Wednesday. Reston, Va.-based comScore defines digital commerce to include desktop e-commerce and mobile commerce. The firm predicts desktop e-commerce for …
Read More »Of Two Minds on EMV: Consumers Like the Security, but Many Are Annoyed at Checkout
New findings about the public’s attitudes toward EMV chip cards and their disruptive potential show consumers appreciate the improved security over magnetic-stripe card payments. Still, many consumers are bothered by the new transaction processes, enough so that some will avoid stores where they know they have to insert a chip …
Read More »Visa, Wal-Mart Settle Wal-Mart’s Interchange Opt-Out Lawsuit
Visa Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have settled a 2014 antitrust lawsuit the huge retailer filed against Visa that sought $5 billion in damages, Visa reported. Disclosure of the settlement comes in a brief passage in Visa’s annual report for fiscal 2015 ended Sept. 30, which Visa filed with the …
Read More »Losses From Mobile Capture Duplicates Less Than Overall Check-Fraud Losses, Study Says
Fears about fraud losses from duplicate check deposits have plagued mobile remote deposit capture since its inception. Finding data to confirm or debunk those fears, however, has been tough, at least until now. It seems that mRDC fraud is pretty low, according to results of an April-May survey that Alpharetta, …
Read More »Square Low-Balls Its IPO, but Shares Pop on First Morning of Trading
By Jim Daly Merchant processor Square Inc. priced its initial public offering of stock late Wednesday at $9 per share, about 25% lower than it had hoped for, but positive investor sentiment lifted the stock Thursday morning in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Square …
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