Citigroup Inc. claims to have become the first global bank to introduce its own branded wallet in the U.S. The question now is how much Citi’s millions of payment card holders will care as digital-wallet services proliferate. The new Citi Wallet announced Monday is based on MasterCard Inc.’s MasterPass platform, …
Read More »Consumers Shy Away from Target’s Debit Card in the Wake of the Retailer’s Data Breach
Target Corp. on Wednesday reported second-quarter financials reflecting its lowered expectations, but the discount retailer’s top brass also shed some light on how the massive data breach Target disclosed last December affected consumers’ applications for and usage of its private-label payment cards, particularly its debit card. Target’s results confirm that …
Read More »FleetCor Buying Comdata; Gift Card Business May Be On the Block
FleetCor Technologies Inc. is buying payment processor Comdata Inc. for $3.45 billion, Norcross, Ga.-based FleetCor announced Tuesday. The deal gets FleetCor access to four businesses it is not already in, including over-the-road fleet payment services, fuel cards for national accounts, virtual payments and gift cards via Comdata’s Stored Value …
Read More »Future U.S. EMV Card Shipments Could Garner A Larger Share: Report
Shipments of smart cards capable of payments that adhere to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) standard are expected to be six times greater in 2014 than in 2013 in the United States, says a new report from ABI Research. That total, forecast to be 154 million this year, is not a …
Read More »Target’s Data Breach Costs Now Total $236 Million
Target Corp. on Tuesday issued an update on its data-breach expenses for the second quarter that brings total costs to $236 million, including expenses in the first quarter and late 2013. The Minneapolis-based retailer expects gross breach-related expenses in the second quarter to be $148 million, offset by $38 million …
Read More »First Data Reports Improved Financials And Plans To Buy Digital Gift-Card Provider Gyft
In a busy day for First Data Corp., the leading payment processor on Wednesday reported a reduced quarterly loss and its best revenues since going private, and that it plans to buy digital gift-card services provider Gyft Inc. Thanks to recent tech-company acquisitions and moves to improve its debt-laden balance …
Read More »Annual Wallet Payments Total More Than a Quarter Billion, According to Updated Fed Study
Transactions using mobile wallets totaled at least 250.6 million and amounted to at least $9.5 billion in value in 2012, according to a payments report issued Thursday by the Federal Reserve. These results, part of a comprehensive update to a study released in December, represent the central bank’s first effort …
Read More »Tokenization Plays the Central Role in Visa’s New Cloud Payment Suite
Visa Inc. moved on Thursday to commercialize mobile payments using cloud-based near-field communication technology with its release of Visa Cloud Payment Solutions. A related development, the announcement of the upcoming debut of a tokenization service, is aimed at locking down cloud-based NFC and other digital payments. The new services include …
Read More »Visa Revamps Its Online Wallet, And Gives It a New Name: Visa Checkout
Visa Inc. says its new online payment service, Visa Checkout, should help improve conversion rates for e-commerce retailers by making it easier for consumers to pay. The service, available in the United States, Canada and Australia, enables consumers to pay online on any device, Visa says. Visa Checkout replaces the …
Read More »PCI Council Puts Trustwave’s Payment-Software Assessment Practice ‘In Remediation’
The PCI Security Standards Council has placed Trustwave Holdings Inc.’s business of assessing payment-processing software for compliance with a major security standard “in remediation,” an official term that means probation. Chicago-based Trustwave is one of the biggest firms, if not the biggest, in the business of assessing merchants and processors …
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