With its enforcement action against Dwolla Inc., announced on Wednesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made plain it is expanding its writ to include data-security practices and putting digital-payments startups in its cross-hairs. The ripple effect could reach a number of payments providers if they are incautious about data …
Read More »New Research Shows Low Usage Rates but High Satisfaction for Major Wallets
While the mobile wallets launched by corporate giants Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have sparked a good deal of publicity, not much is known about actual adoption and usage so far, since the companies have been characteristically tightlipped. But that doesn’t mean researchers who …
Read More »The Brand Power of Apple and Samsung, Plus HCE, Are Lending Momentum to Contactless
The role of EMV in pushing tap-and-pay solutions is well known, but research released on Tuesday indicates the brand value of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. can’t be underestimated. At the same time, a cloud-based technology called host card emulation is also playing a role in spreading contactless …
Read More »Known for Its Mobile-Deposit App, Ingo Money Adds a Unique Check-Splitting Feature
Ingo Money Inc. this week introduced a feature on its 3-year-old mobile app that allows users to split check deposits across multiple accounts, including bank accounts, prepaid cards, bill payments, and PayPal. Using Ingo’s decision engine and bank integrations, the feature also offers immediate, guaranteed funds availability. The feature works …
Read More »For the First Time, MasterCard Opens up MDES to a Third Party With G&D Deal
Ever since MasterCard Inc. introduced its tokenization platform nearly 18 months ago, no third party has been allowed to offer the product, called the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service. That changed Tuesday with the company’s announcement that Giesecke & Devrient is connecting its Convego CloudPay platform to MDES and will be …
Read More »Chase Pay Takes First Important Stride Forward With a Deal for Acceptance at 7,500 Starbucks Stores
When JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced its own mobile wallet, Chase Pay, in October, it said the new payments service would begin rolling out by the middle of this year, and on Tuesday the money-center bank announced an important step in that direction. The fledgling service, which is up against …
Read More »MasterCard And Visa Jockey To Cash in on Expected Jump in Payments on Wearables
Payments made via so-called wearables are forecast to soar in the years to come, so Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are positioning themselves to cash in with announcements made Monday at the huge Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. MasterCard unveiled a partnership with WiseKey, a Swiss company whose security …
Read More »Thompson Investments Steps in to Acquire Troubled Powa Technologies
Powa Technologies Ltd., the troubled startup behind PowaTag and the PowaPOS line of mobile point-of-sale gear, is being acquired by Thompson Investments, according to a terse announcement released late Friday. No terms were released. Before Thompson stepped in, London-based Powa Technologies had been reported to be close to appointing management consultancy …
Read More »With Its Payroll Service, Square Seeks Cross-Sell Avenues to New, Larger Merchants
Square Inc. introduced its payroll service for small businesses last June in California, and in the eight months since then Square Payroll has proven to be popular enough that the company added two more states in November and on Wednesday said it is expanding into five more. But while Square …
Read More »Look for Dominance by Smart Phones in Mobile Commerce Very Soon, Report Says
The onset of 2017 will usher in the year of the smart phone in e-commerce, according to a projection released Tuesday by eMarketer Inc. The New York City-based researcher says that next year, for the first time, more than half of all so-called digital buyers—51.2%—will make at least one purchase …
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