Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Utter the name “Wal-Mart” and heads turn in the payments industry. That happened yet again with the revelation this week that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer that tried and failed to get into the banking business, had taken an equity interest in Green Dot Corp., a major player …
Read More »Google’s Android Closes in on the iPhone in Mobile Banking
The Apple iPhone, long a staple among consumers who pay bills and transfer funds via mobile devices, is now being challenged for mobile-banking leadership by a surging Android operating system, according to new research. Handsets that use Google Inc.’s open-source Android OS now account for 12% of the smart-phone market, …
Read More »Seeking ‘Stickiness,’ MasterCard Rolls out Online Bill Pay for Prepaid
MasterCard Inc. this week rolled out a service that lets users of MasterCard-branded prepaid cards pay bills at the card issuer’s Web site or by phone. Aimed squarely at the underbanked population, the service relies on the MasterCard RPPS network for links to biller accounting systems and Aliaswire Inc., a …
Read More »A $300 Million iPay Deal Is a ‘Strong Fit’ for Processor Jack Henry
Acquisitive financial-institution processor Jack Henry & Associates Inc. on Monday said it has completed its $300 million buyout of iPay Technologies, a low-profile but fast-growing electronic bill-payment processor that will add substantial mass to Jack Henry’s already sizable bill-pay business. Monett, Mo.-based Jack Henry provides bill-pay services to 1,050 of …
Read More »MasterCard Seeks to Harness Innovation Through Open APIs
In what one of its top executives characterizes as a “philosophical shift,” MasterCard Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a plan by which it will make its payments platforms available to developers through open application programming interfaces, or open APIs. The company will also create a portal for developers where they can …
Read More »Software House Behind Mobile Capture Gets into the Black
After rolling out its flagship mobile remote deposit software product in mid-2009, Mitek Systems Inc. is harvesting a bit of a profit. The company last week reported net income of $7,000 for its fiscal 2010 second quarter ended March 31. That’s close to break even, but much better than the …
Read More »Heavyweight Entrants Help Trigger a Merger in Card-Acceptance Apps
The principals of a leading software developer and its independent sales organization partner in the card-processing application market for Apple Inc.’s iPhone have bought a key rival, a move they say will enable them to thrive in a fast-changing market that is attracting heavyweight competitors. Inner Fence LLC and Dublin, …
Read More »An iPhone Accessory Heats up the Push for NFC on Memory Cards
With the announcement on Monday by DeviceFidelity Inc. that it has developed a case for Apple Inc.’s iPhone that will let the popular smart phone accept a memory card, the payments industry took what some observers consider a key step toward the commercialization of near-field communication (NFC), the interactive technology …
Read More »Visa’s Big PIN-Debit Rate Hike Further Closes Gap with Signature Debit
The gap in acceptance costs between PIN-based and signature debit, once wide, continues to narrow, payments executives say. The trend is most apparent in the new interchange schedules for Visa Inc.’s Interlink electronic funds transfer network and the signature-based Visa check card. A number of Interlink rates are rising by …
Read More »MasterCard Spots Signs of a Turnaround in Cardholder Spending
Despite what MasterCard Inc. executives labeled a “strong quarter” of earnings, U.S. credit card purchase volumes continued to fall in the three months ending March 31. In addition, MasterCard’s debit card count dropped by 1.6% even though debit transaction volumes grew.But signs of both an “underlying momentum of our business …
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