Payments industry veteran Dan Henry has been named chairman of 3PEA International Inc., a prepaid card program manager. President and chief executive Mark Newcomer, who co-founded the company and has served as chairman since 2006, will become vice chairman. Henry was until recently chief executive of prepaid card specialist NetSpend, …
Read More »Retailers Amp Up Fraud Prevention for Their Online Gift Card Sales
Selling gift cards online makes a lot of sense for many merchants, but criminals know that, too, and have quickly figured out ways to steal the cards. Now, as merchants have increased their sophistication in countering these thefts, so too have criminals figured ways to foil the merchants. “Gift cards …
Read More »However It Will Work, the Common Buy Button Isn’t Going to Appear Any Time Soon
With each week that passes, the so-called unified buy button concept introduced by the major card networks last month takes on more definition, but despite all the discussion, the idea of an online checkout shared by multiple payment networks remains too vague—and too futuristic—to suit some expert observers. “I keep …
Read More »Payment Processor Spindle Cancels an Acquisition, But Rents the Target Company’s CEO
The struggling merchant processor Spindle Inc. canceled its planned acquisition of independent sales organization and gateway provider VyaPay, but reported Wednesday that it plans to form a so-called strategic alliance with VyaPay, and VyaPay’s chief executive will provide day-to-day management of Spindle. Mesa, Ariz.-based Spindle, whose shares trade over the …
Read More »Chili’s Reports Malware-Related Data Compromise at Company-Owned Restaurants
An undetermined number of Chili’s Grill and Bar restaurants sustained a data breach in March and April, Chili’s parent company Brinker International Inc. reported over the weekend. Dallas-based Brinker divulged few details in a Saturday post on the Chili’s Web site and in a new release the same day. It …
Read More »Now That Real-Time Is on the Horizon, Fee-Weary Merchants Look for Card Displacement
Financial institutions have been pushing real-time payments because they are supposed to be not only faster but also more cost-efficient. But now results of a global survey released Monday indicate merchants not only expect faster payments to be less expensive to accept, but also to displace the payment cards banks …
Read More »CPI Card Group’s Prepaid Card Sales Grow and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/11/18
The Western Union Co.’s Speedpay subsidiary announced the latest release of its Next Gen bill-payment platform. Card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. reported that first-quarter sales of credit and debit cards for the U.S. market fell 6.5% year-over-year, but U.S. prepaid card sales jumped 63%. The number of data breaches …
Read More »How Apple’s Goldman Gambit Could Help Lock in Banks Supporting Apple Pay
Apple Inc.’s move to create a new Apple Pay credit card with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may or may not help boost usage of the mobile-payments service, but one thing it is likely to do is cement Apple’s ties with the thousands of banks that support the service, observers say. …
Read More »Cardlytics Prepares for a Potential Tripling of Its Active User Base by 2019’s End
Cardlytics Inc. is building its infrastructure to support as many as 200 million monthly active users of its merchant-funded rewards program by the end of 2019, more than three times the 60 million it currently has, company executives said Thursday. The big expansion comes as Cardlytics’ grows its business with …
Read More »Early Ripple Cross-Border Tests Results and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/10/18
Blockchain provider Ripple Labs Inc. reported results on a number of pilots it is running for its XRapid cross-border payments network. Participants in the pilots have realized cost savings ranging from 40% to 70% compared to conventional fees. The average XRapid transaction took a little over two minutes, compared to two to …
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