The year 2019 is shaping up to be the worst year yet for data breaches, according to a recent report from Risk Based Security Inc. Through the year’s first half, 3,813 breaches were reported, up 54% from a year earlier. Those breaches exposed more than 4.1 billion consumer records, up …

Cash may still be king among consumers for purchases of $10 or less, but its market share is steadily being eroded by credit and debit cards, says an annual survey from CreditCards.com. The most recent edition of the survey, released late last week, reveals that 43% of respondents with rewards …

Relative newcomers to the world of money transfers such as Remitly Inc., TransferWise Ltd., and WorldRemit Ltd., which specialize in end-to-end digital transactions, are nibbling away at the market share of agent-based leaders The Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc., says a new report from research firm Aite Group …

Microsoft Corp. will stop supporting its Windows 7 operating system next January, and that’s set off the latest dash by ATM deployers to convert to the next OS while there’s still time. For most deployers, that’s Windows 10, but some might be in a better position to meet the deadline …

Synthetic identity fraud has become the fastest-growing and one of the most difficult financial crimes to detect in the United States, says a white paper released this week by the Federal Reserve. Lenders in the United States lost $6 billion to synthetic identity fraud in 2016, with the average chargeoff …

As the gig economy grows, so does workers’ need for quicker access to their wages than they can get through traditional payroll schedules. To facilitate faster delivery of wages to gig and hourly workers, Mastercard Inc. has partnered with Memphis, Tenn.-based Evolve Bank & Trust to push wages in real …

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. may be making significant progress in their bid to simplify and speed their aged and cumbersome chargeback processes through automation, rules changes, and some key acquisitions, experts contend. The biggest gains in chargeback efficiency are expected to come when Visa and Mastercard launch real-time communications …

A consortium of academics is betting it has the formula to create a high-performance blockchain network capable of processing payments faster and at greater scale than competing blockchain networks. The network, called Unit-e, is expected to process transactions confirmed by consensus on the blockchain in 15 seconds. If realized, the settlement …

Deluxe Corp. is bridging the gap between paper checks and electronic payments for small businesses by integrating its eCheck technology with Inuit Inc.’s QuickBooks accounting software. The integration is expected to automate check writing and delivery for small and midsize businesses, many of which continue to rely heavily on paper …

Now that the PCI Security Standards Council’s July 1 deadline has passed for implementing newer versions of Transport Layer Security technology to protect payment data, some experts believe nearly a third of small brick-and-mortar and e-commerce merchants don’t meet the new requirements. As a result, expect merchant acquirers, processors, and …