Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
With the pressure on to secure the digital fortifications of payment data, security professionals say they need more money, more time, and more knowledgeable staff to defend their companies, according to a survey from data-security company Trustwave. In its 2015 Security Pressures Report, of the more than 1,000 security professionals …
Read More »Reduction in ID-Fraud Losses Surpasses Decrease in Fraud Victims, Study Finds
Some 12.7 million Americans fell victim to identity fraud last year, a big number but down 3% from 13.1 million in 2013, according to Javelin Strategy and Research’s latest annual ID-fraud study. Even better, estimated fraud losses fell 11% to $16 billion from $18 billion in 2013. While those decreases …
Read More »Mass EMV Chip Card Issuance Awaits: Survey
The deluge of EMV chip cards for the majority of U.S. consumers has yet to happen, finds a survey by ORC International Inc. In the survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults, only 26% said they had a chip card. That figure increases slightly among consumers with credit cards, …
Read More »Staples And Jack Henry Offerings Promise Yet Hotter Market for Small-Biz Funding
Funding for small businesses has been an increasingly important source of revenue for independent sales organizations and other merchant acquirers, but they’re not the only parties that have noticed the market’s lucrative potential. Now, banking-technology vendors and even large merchants are getting into the game. Jack Henry & Associates Inc., …
Read More »AmEx Could Take an $82 Billion Charge-Volume Hit With Loss of U.S. Costco Card
American Express Co. on Thursday disclosed that it will not renew its merchant-acceptance and cobranded credit card agreements with Costco Wholesale Corp. The card accounted for about $82 billion of AmEx’s worldwide charge volume last year. The possible loss of the warehouse club’s 16-year AmEx card program had been rumored …
Read More »First Data Reports First Profit in 29 Quarters Since Going Private
Leading payment processor First Data Corp. late Tuesday reported its first quarterly profit since being taken private in a $29 billion leveraged buyout by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in 2007. Net income wasn’t big, $11.8 million, but it beat the $123.1 million loss Atlanta-based First Data reported …
Read More »A New Card Aims to Combat Data Breaches with Unique Numbers for Each Transaction
Consumers are weary of dealing with the fallout from data breaches and want a better way to minimize their risk. The backers of Final, a new credit card with online-management tools that can set spending caps and produce virtual card numbers tied to specific merchants, hope to alleviate some of …
Read More »Higher Transaction Volumes Help Boost MasterCard’s Quarterly Profit by 21%
Boosted by higher transaction volumes both in the United States and abroad, MasterCard Inc. on Friday reported a 21% increase, adjusted for foreign-currency effects, in net income for 2014’s fourth quarter. The No. 2 payment network posted an $801 million profit versus $684 million a year earlier on net revenues …
Read More »Visa Chief Scharf Holds out Digital Payments As Olive Branch to Fee-Weary Retailers
In the wake of an important Supreme Court decision early last week, Visa Inc.’s chief executive Thursday afternoon sounded a conciliatory note on the company’s often fraught relations with merchants and touted Visa’s digital-payments initiatives as a way of bringing more value to retailers in return for the fees they …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: Card Volume Up for AmEx And Discover, But AmEx To Cut Jobs
American Express Co. reported $182.5 billion in U.S. card-billed business in the fourth quarter, up 7.9% from $169.1 billion a year earlier, and discount-fee revenues increased 1.8% to $4.99 billion from $4.90 billion. The average worldwide discount rate, however, decreased three basis points to 2.45% of the sale. American Express …
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