More than two years after the U.S. migration to EMV chip cards accelerated, evidence of the success of the effort continues to emerge. Merchant acquirer Square Inc. says nearly 92% of the transactions it processed as of December were made with EMV-enabled credit and debit cards. While the advent of …
Read More »Integration Tasks Emerge Now that the Vantiv-Worldpay Merger Is Official
The merger of payment processors Vantiv Inc. and London-based Worldpay Group plc was completed Jan. 16, and up next for leaders of the combined company is integration of operational platforms, selling products to a wider customer base, and achieving their goal of $200 million in cost savings in three years. …
Read More »Merchants Eye Checkout, Financing, and Mobile Investments in 2018, Says Vyze
Many merchants—98%—are looking to make investments in their checkout systems this year, finds the Merchant Credit Survey from Vyze Inc., a consumer financing provider. Investing in financing programs ranked high, with 97% saying they anticipate focusing on financing and credit options. Most merchants—92%—plan to make mobile app and mobile Web …
Read More »Survey Results Show a Surprising Slowdown in Merchant Compliance With Key Security Rules
At a time when the payment card industry continues to struggle with the consequences of data breaches, the last thing acquirers and issuers need is a slowdown in merchant compliance with critical data-security rules. Yet that is what’s going on, warn the Merchant Acquirers Committee and ControlScan Inc. in survey …
Read More »Discover Teams Up with FitPay To Provide Contactless Payments With Wearables and IoT Devices
Discover Financial Services cardholders will be able to make point-of-sale contactless purchases with wearables and Internet of Things devices that use FitPay Inc.’s FitPay Payment Platform under an agreement announced Monday by the two companies. The new service will provision payment credentials using the Discover Digital Exchange, Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover’s …
Read More »Mass Card Replacements Wreak Havoc. A Startup Says It Has an Answer
For years, the change in card credentials that occurs when issuers send out replacement plastic has caused heartburn for cardholders and merchants alike. New card numbers, expiration dates, or three-digit card-verification values can help thwart fraud when cards are lost or stolen, but they also wreak havoc with unaware merchants, …
Read More »Many Firms Pay a Price for Compromising Mobile Security in the Name of Efficiency
Some 27% of executives with responsibility for their organization’s mobile devices said their firm had experienced a security incident in the past year involving the loss of data or system downtime in which mobile devices played a key role, according to new findings from Verizon Communications Inc. In addition, 32% …
Read More »Nearly 60% of U.S. Storefronts Are Now Accepting Chip Cards, a Visa Update Shows
Some 2.7 million merchant locations, or 59% of U.S. storefronts, were accepting EMV chip cards as of December, according to the latest update from Visa Inc., issued Friday. That’s up from 392,000 locations in September 2015, just before the major card networks began enforcing a mandate for chip card acceptance. …
Read More »With Unified Token Management, Visa Seeks To Enable Omnichannel Commerce for Merchants of All Sizes
Visa Inc. launched Token Management Service, a service it says will make it easier for users to manage tokenized payment card data from multiple sources and across multiple channels, the card network announced Thursday. Designed to complement the Visa Token Service, the new program provides a way for merchants to use …
Read More »Eye on Security: 124 Breaches Already Reported in 2018; Cost of Malicious Cyber Activity May Exceed $100 Billion
Some 124 new data breaches have become known this year as of Feb. 16, the Identity Theft Resource Center reports. And the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors issued a study last week pegging the cost of malicious cyber activity to the economy in 2016 at $57 billion on the …
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