Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
By Peter Lucas PayPal Inc. on Tuesday took more steps toward strengthening its in-store presence, and at the same time broadened the reach of its Bill Me Later lending service to consumers carrying private-label cards. Both arrangements are the result of an agreement with Alliance Data Systems Corp., a big …
Read More »VeriFone Brings Point to the U.S. as Part of a New, Managed-Payments Offering
More than 18 months after acquiring Point, a Sweden-based provider of payment gateway solutions to merchants, point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. announced Monday that it will roll out the service to U.S. merchants beginning this fall. VeriFone intends to offer Point as a managed service through independent sales organizations …
Read More »With Revenue Stuck in Neutral, First Data Looks to New Top Brass to Kickstart Growth
First Data Corp.’s net loss widened in the second quarter on overall revenue that barely budged from the year-ago period, the huge transaction processor reported on Tuesday. The results throw into relief questions swirling around the Altanta-based company about whether its new top brass can kick-start growth. The company’s $189 …
Read More »Durbin, Welch Urge Fed To Adopt Debit Caps That Look More Like the EU Proposal
Two powerful lawmakers on Friday wrote to the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board urging the central bank to scrap its debit card interchange caps and instead adopt limits in line with the more draconian regime proposed this week by the European Commission. In their letter to Fed Board chairman …
Read More »Wide-Ranging Hacker Indictment Casts New Light on Some Notorious Breaches
A federal indictment announced on Thursday against four Russians and a Ukrainian man casts new light on some of the biggest breaches of payment card data in recent years. The defendants, affiliated with notorious computer hacker Albert Gonzalez, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence but named as one of …
Read More »Looking to U.K.’s EMV Experience, A Consultancy Prods U.S. with a ‘Hot Poker’
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and EMV won’t be fully implemented in the United States for some time to come, but at least some foreign observers who have experienced nationwide deployment of the Europay-MasterCard-Visa chip card standard are starting to show impatience with EMV’s sluggish U.S. progress. Fearing a …
Read More »ISOs Watch Their Backs As Regulators Step Up Scrutiny of the Payments Industry
A growing feeling among independent sales organizations about more eyes looking over their shoulders came through Thursday at the annual conference of the MidWest Acquirers Association, a regional trade group. Jitters over the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuits against ISOs that processed for allegedly fraudulent telemarketers to increasing worries about data …
Read More »With Discover Link Active, eBay Boss Says PayPal Seeking to ‘Build Out’ POS ‘Ubiquity’
PayPal Inc.’s point-of-sale initiative, which has seen the e-commerce processor penetrate thousands of stores while stirring controversy with at least some incumbent processors, will focus on achieving “ubiquity” and solving consumer “pain points” for the next several years, eBay Inc.’s chief executive said on Wednesday. The initiative, which began early …
Read More »New Retirement Funding Plan Latest Effort by Loss-Racked First Data To Control Costs
In an effort to free up cash to rebuild its struggling business, payment processor First Data Corp. will stop funding its 24,000 employees’ retirement plans with cash and instead provide stock grants to all employees. New First Data chief executive Frank Bisignano announced the change Monday in a memo to …
Read More »Researcher Predicts Almost 90% of U.S. POS Terminals Will Be EMV-Capable by 2017
Nearly 90% of U.S. point-of-sale terminals will be ready to accept Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards by 2017, according to a new Aite Group LLC study. The report examines the reterminalization of card-acceptance locations triggered by the payment card networks’ plans announced in 2011 and 2012 to wean America off of …
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