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Various payment alternatives will continue to grow in volume and claim more share of Web-based sales, but the dramatic gains of recent years will moderate as credit cards stage a partial comeback, according to a forecast released this week. Alternative payment methods, which have proliferated in variety over the past …
Read More »TSYS Aims to Tap Growing Debit Trend with Its New Hybrid Card
Here's one way credit card issuers could win back some popularity in an increasingly debit card world: make credit cards function like debit cards. That's the essence of a new product from processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), which last week unveiled its TSYS Hybrid card. The patent-pending product enables …
Read More »Could Visa’s New No-Signature Rule Hurt Contactless Payments?
Visa Inc.'s announcement this week that starting this summer it will no longer require signatures for transactions of $25 or less at most U.S. merchants heralds a policy that will result in faster and smoother transactions but could also undermine the payments industry's move toward contactless technology. “The merchant proposition …
Read More »As ID Fraud Ensnares More Victims, More Fraudsters Get Caught
The number of identity-fraud victims increased by 12% last year to 11.1 million from 9.9 million in 2008 and was 37% higher than in 2007, and the estimated amount of fraud hit $54 billion, the highest since 2006. That's according to Javelin Strategy & Research's 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report. …
Read More »Same-Store Card Sales Continue to Plunge for Small Businesses
Same-store sales on credit and debit cards continue to drop for small businesses, indicating that any signs of recovery from the recession have yet to be seen by either Main Street merchants or their acquirers. Sales on cards for small merchants fell 12.15% in the fourth quarter last year compared …
Read More »Encryption, PIN Security, EMV Top Busy Agenda for PCI Council in 2010
A busy year is on tap for the PCI Security Standards Council, with revisions due not only for the main Payment Card Industry data-security standard but also standards governing PIN-entry devices and payment-processing software applications. Plus, the PCI Council plans to take a close look at two widely discussed security …
Read More »Debit Growth Is Still the Story As Visa And MasterCard File Results
The bank card networks have weighed in with their latest earnings reports, and operating statistics within them show debit continues to boom while the unprecedented, recession-induced credit contraction over the past year may be nearing its end. At Visa Inc., which reported late Wednesday, U.S. debit payment volume hit $238 …
Read More »Hackers Target Hotels for Card Data As Malware Gets More Insidious
A growing emphasis by computer hackers on stealing payment card data from hotels and resorts and their increasingly sophisticated malicious software and attack methods are two highlights in a new report from security consulting and technology firm Trustwave Holdings Inc. Trustwave's Global Security Report 2010 summarizes findings from the Chicago-based …
Read More »Study: Of All Breaches, Those Caused by Hacking Are the Costliest
The cost of data breaches rose slightly last year, but breaches resulting from computer hacking incurred by far the highest losses, according to a new report from privacy and data-security research firm Ponemon Institute LLC. The average cost per compromised customer record rose to $204 in 2009 from $202 in …
Read More »MasterCard’s SunTrust Coup Includes Credit As Well As Debit Cards
MasterCard Inc. struck the latest blow in its ongoing fight with Visa Inc. for issuer loyalty with Thursday's announcement that SunTrust Banks Inc. would switch its entire 5-million-card debit portfolio from Visa to the MasterCard brand. While one analyst called it a minor win, SunTrust's conversion underscores the growing importance …
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