A central Illinois grocery-store chain will expand online and add mobile payments beginning this fall. The service enables consumers to use credit and debit cards along with electronic benefits transfer cards to pay for orders, says Ithaca, N.Y.-based Rosie Applications Inc., the vendor providing the technology. The move by Quincy, …
Read More »With Acquirers in M&A Crosshairs, Rumors Surface That Moneris’s U.S. Arm Is in Play
Moneris Solutions USA, the U.S. arm of Canada-based Moneris Solutions Corp., appears to have suitors, according to a recent Bloomberg.com report. Moneris is a joint venture between RBC Financial Group and BMO Bank of Montreal. Bloomberg.com reports that merchant processor Vantiv Inc. and Warburg Pincus LLC, a New York-based private …
Read More »Credit Card Surcharging Expected To Continue Despite Rejection of Interchange Settlement
Merchants that add surcharges to credit card transactions likely can continue to do so despite the overturning of the interchange settlement that enabled them to do so. A federal appeals court last week threw out an agreement initially reached four years ago over card-network interchange and acceptance rules. The interchange …
Read More »Wells Fargo Plans August Expansion of Real-Time Send Capability for P2P Payments
Four years after launching a peer-to-peer payments capability using the clearXchange network, Wells Fargo & Co. is enabling a real-time function for its service. Announced Monday, the enhancement enables Wells customers to send and receive real-time payments with no fee from and to customers of any bank that participates in …
Read More »Swifter EMV Certification Will Aid Chip Card Transition—And Terminal Makers
Getting point-of-sale terminals through the EMV-certification process should become a bit quicker thanks to the card brands’ efforts to “streamline” the testing process. That should bode well for POS terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc., says Vin D’Agostino, executive vice president of VeriFone Services. MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. separately announced programs that …
Read More »As Signature EMV Draws Merchants’ Ire, Industry Opinion May Be on Their Side
Merchants, in their argument for PIN rather than signature authentication for EMV chip card transactions, may have industry opinion on their side. According to an informal poll conducted this week by Digital Transactions News, two-thirds of readers agree that the merchants suing the card networks over the issue have a …
Read More »Circle Lands a $60 Million Investment As It Eyes Expansion Into China And Europe
Digital-currency specialist Circle Internet Financial Ltd. is expanding into China following a $60 million investment from a syndicate of investors. This follows a $50 million funding round raised last year by the Boston-based company. Circle enables users to send and receive funds instantly at no charge using blockchain technology. A …
Read More »A BofA Survey Finds More Consumers Are Using Their Phones to Make Purchases
The number of consumers of all age groups who would or already use their phones to make purchases at the checkout increased to 40% this year, finds Bank of America Corp.’s “Trends in Consumer Mobility Report 2016,” released Tuesday. That’s up from 34% in 2015. Younger consumers—Millennials between 18 and …
Read More »ATM Skimming Hits Just a Few Machines, Finds National ATM Council Survey
There may be less ATM skimming going on than is commonly thought. Most ATMs placed in retail locations—93%—have not experienced a skimming incident, finds a survey from the National ATM Council Inc., which represents independent ATM operators. Skimming happens when a consumer inserts a credit or debit card into what …
Read More »Expedited EMV Process Now Available for AmEx Cards
American Express Co. made available Wednesday the AmEx Quick Chip program that enables a seemingly speedier EMV chip card transaction. Similar to what MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. recently announced, the AmEx program enables consumers to remove their AmEx chip cards from readers once the card has been verified instead …
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