Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
When Global Payments Inc.’s chief executive, Jeffrey S. Sloan, called his counterpart at Heartland Payment Systems Inc., Robert O. Carr, a couple of months ago, he had in mind the potential for a massive acquisition in the acquiring business. But, in making that call, he also took the latest step, …
Read More »As Mobile P2P Grows, It’s Winning Adoption With a Broad Range of Age Groups
The low cost and convenience of peer-to-peer payments may be ready to cannibalize a portion of the traditional wire-transfer market, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research. The report also finds that mobile P2P is important to all consumers, not just Millennials, often considered the most likely …
Read More »Bitcoin Value Rallies As the Digital Currency Closes out a Promising Year
By John Stewart The Bitcoin digital currency is surging again. Factors ranging from the collapse of the Chinese yuan to the supposed unmasking of Bitcoin’s inventor have helped push the controversial currency’s price up 15% in the past week, to a close at $415.25 on Thursday, according to data compiled …
Read More »Despite Observers’ Doubts, Wal-Mart Says Walmart Pay Won’t Weaken Ties to MCX
By John Stewart Thursday’s surprise announcement by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that the retailing titan will roll out its own mobile-payment service next year raises questions about its commitment to Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), the mobile-wallet consortium that Wal-Mart helped launch three years ago. Starting this month, Wal-Mart will begin …
Read More »Working with Card Issuers, Tender Armor Offers an Anti-Fraud Tool for E-Commerce
Newly launched Tender Armor hopes its CvvPlus product can help issuers, merchants, and consumers combat the risk from fraudulent card-not-present transactions, the company announced Wednesday. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company says CvvPlus can help stem online fraud by providing a daily card verification code that is not printed on a …
Read More »The ACH Continues to Sizzle, Racking up Nearly 6% Growth in the Third Quarter
By John Stewart It operates so much in the background that many payments professionals may not have noticed, but the automated clearing house network is on a hot streak. The 41-year-old system notched a 5.9% year-over-year increase in transactions in the quarter ended Sept. 30, reaching a total of 4.83 …
Read More »Groceries, Drug Stores, C-Stores Yawn at Mobile Payments, Focus on E-Commerce
By John Stewart What kind of technology are grocery stores, drug stores, and convenience stores most interested in? Not mobile payments, at least not right now. That’s the conclusion of the Los Angeles-based Center for Advancing Retail & Technology LLC, which operates an online marketplace of retail solutions for merchants …
Read More »ComScore: Cyber Monday Spending Surpasses $3 Billion as M-Commerce Grows 53%
It looks like Cyber Monday came through for e-commerce payment processors, if the latest spending numbers from comScore Inc. hold true. ComScore reported Wednesday that spending from desktop computers and smart phones and tablets on Nov. 30 hit $3.12 billion, a 21% increase from $2.59 billion on 2014’s Cyber Monday. …
Read More »Holiday Spending May Feature More Debit And Cash. Mobile Payments? Not So Much
By John Stewart The annual holiday-spending frenzy is about to kick off, and if a consumer survey released on Monday is any indication, it will feature a lot more debit card and cash usage and a lot less mobile payment than you might have expected. Some 39% of consumers intend …
Read More »Mum About the Details, MCX’s Mooney Hints at ‘Plans on the Table’ Beyond Chase Deal
By John Stewart Last month, the spotlight shone on Merchant Customer Exchange LLC when JPMorgan Chase & Co. officially unveiled its Chase Pay wallet, set to launch next year, and said it will be included in MCX’s merchant-controlled CurrentC application. But, as big as that deal is for MCX, the …
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