Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The rapid insinuation of tablets into the retail point of sale took another big turn this week when Revel Systems Inc., a San Francisco-based startup, unveiled an iPad-based POS system designed for supermarkets. The new system has already been adopted by Marty’s Markets, a Pittsburgh grocery store, and another half …
Read More »Visa Plans To Offer Its Own Point-to-Point Encryption Service
Point-to-point encryption of card data has been a hot sell for merchant processors and vendors of security technology ever since the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) took effect in 2006 and especially after a spate of high-profile data breaches at merchants and processors not long afterward. Visa Inc., the …
Read More »Square Enters Big-Time Acquiring with Its Cube-Less Starbucks Deal
The announcement late on Tuesday that Square Inc. struck a deal with coffee giant Starbucks Corp. for the first time puts Square, a specialist in bringing mobile-payment acceptance to small businesses and consumers, into the role of a more traditional card processor for a large national merchant. And at least …
Read More »A $9 Million Infusion Has Mobile Payments Startup LevelUp Thinking Big
Armed with $9 million in new funding, mobile-payments startup LevelUp plans to use the capital infusion to expand its sales force and build out new solutions to improve the merchant experience. Boston-based LevelUp is launching a remote sales team that will sign and service merchants outside the company’s 10 primary …
Read More »Residual-Based Lending Emerges As Funding Alternative for ISOs
A recent string of deals with processors to offer funding to their independent sales organizations has expanded Arlington, Va.-based startup Super G Funding LLC’s reach as a lender. Super G, which was founded in 2009 and has made loans totaling $10 million to about 80 ISOs, is one of only …
Read More »Global Payments Expects Its Data-Breach Tab Could Hit $120 Million
The data breach Global Payments Inc. reported earlier this year could cost the merchant processor nearly $120 million, company executives revealed Thursday. The expenses include an $84.4 million pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 ended May 31 that will cover fines from the payment card networks and …
Read More »Interlink Loses More Than Half Its Volume as Durbin Routing Provisions Take Effect
The Durbin debit numbers are out, and they aren’t pretty for Visa Inc., the leading debit card player in the U.S. Visa on Wednesday reported that U.S. debit payments volume plummeted 9.8% in the third quarter of fiscal 2012 ended June 30, hitting $266 billion versus $294 billion a year …
Read More »Target’s Scathing Criticism Casts a Cloud Over Interchange Settlement
More evidence of widespread merchant antipathy to the credit card interchange settlement announced July 13 emerged late Friday when big-box retailer Target Corp. came out against the plan. Industry observers expect more opposition from merchants to emerge, casting doubt on the settlement’s future. But a lobbying group for payment card …
Read More »The New CFPB Will Keep an Eye on Mobile Payments
n n n n n Blow’s comments before the regional ISO trade group came just a day after the CFBP announced its first public enforcement action, one that targeted the issuing side of the credit card business. The CFPB issued an order requiring a bank subsidiary of the big issuer …
Read More »Not All Merchants Are Happy with the $7-Billion-Plus Credit Card Settlement
No sooner had the ink dried on a proposed settlement of a massive credit card suit than cracks began to appear in what had been an edifice of merchant solidarity. The NACS, a national trade group for convenience-store operators, on Friday said its board of directors had unanimously rejected the …
Read More »