Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
By John Stewart After a three-year gestation period, the Merchant Customer Exchange’s CurrentC mobile-payment service is planning to launch a pilot in Columbus, Ohio, during the last week of August, a source with knowledge of the matter tells Digital Transactions News. The pilot will involve locations belonging to a handful …
Read More »Cardtronics Preps for a Big Gulp of Recovery Work Ahead of 7-Eleven’s Exit
Retail ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. says it has been preparing for the possible loss of its biggest merchant, convenience-store giant 7-Eleven Inc., for three years and will stick to its established growth plan to fill the impending hole now that that possibility has become a reality. Houston-based Cardtronics has …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: MasterCard Touts ‘Agnostic’ Tech Approach; Vantiv Revenue Climbs
By John Stewart and Jim Daly With products like its MasterPass digital wallet, MasterCard Inc. has stepped up its efforts to stake a claim in the emerging market for digital payments. But the company is loath to commit itself too soon to any particular technology, according to the card network’s …
Read More »More iPhone 6 Users Are Making More Apple Pay Transactions, Report Says
Nine months after its launch, Apple Pay appears to be steadily establishing itself as an everyday service for consumers wielding iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smart phones. These users are increasing the frequency of their Apple Pay transactions as more consumers adopt the Apple Inc. device. That’s the summary of …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Three Reasons Why Digital Wallets Are the Future of Payments
By Nicole Chan When Apple Pay first entered the digital-wallet scene, consumer interest in the technology increased. Now the question is, will digital-wallet payments become universal? The short answer is yes. The three reasons below expand on why. Reason #1: The technology exists. Rarely has the developed world made a …
Read More »Stripe’s Value Pegged at $5 Billion as Visa, AmEx Invest in the Online Payments Startup
Payments behemoth Visa Inc. has poured some cash into Stripe, an independent online-payments startup, which will be used to aid Stripe’s international expansion. The specific Visa investment was not disclosed. But adding in investments from Sequoia Capital and American Express Co. that were made alongside the one from Visa, Stripe …
Read More »How a Confidential IPO Could Help Square Frame Its Long-Term Strategy
Square Inc.’s future may include public ownership if reports late last week that it filed for a confidential initial public offering are correct. Both BloombergBusiness and The Wall Street Journal reported the filing, permitted under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which enables companies with less than $1 billion …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Tokenization, Misinformation, and the Benefits of Host Card Emulation
Tokenization is not a new concept. Yet, while the process has improved card security across a variety of industries, there still exists myriad misinformation about why it’s important and how to best implement it. I’m going to argue that an approach called host card emulation (HCE) is the safest and …
Read More »InComm and Gemalto Prepare for Mobile Prepaid NFC Payments
Prepaid provider InComm Holdings Inc. and smart card maker Gemalto NV have devised a new service that enables mobile-wallet providers and merchants to offer and accept prepaid cards loaded onto near-field communication (NFC)-equipped smart phones. The InComm Mobile Platform uses Gemalto’s technology—namely its Trusted Service Hub for the interconnectivity, data …
Read More »Only a Minority of Consumers Would Buy Wearable Technology: Survey
Only 42% of consumers would consider or have already bought wearable technology. That’s one result from a Bank of America Corp. survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults. Wearables garner much attention because of their mobile-payments capabilities. These devices—mostly watches—enable consumers to make mobile payments without using a smart …
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