Payments typically flow from consumer to merchant, but in the case of merchandise returns, they flow the other way, and it turns out returns are an almost universal experience these days. That’s putting pressure on merchants to streamline the returns process and find ways to deal with consumer sensitivity about …
Read More »Gains for Mobile Bill Pay and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/16/19
Twenty-one percent of consumers used a mobile app to pay a bill in 2019’s first quarter, up from 19% in the year-earlier period, according to a survey of more than 3,000 consumers by ACI Worldwide Inc. Meanwhile, 28% used a paper check, down from 32% a year earlier, according to the ACI …
Read More »Samsung POS Coming and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/15/19
Days after launching services that allow users to make international remittances and use a virtual prepaid card for payments, Samsung Electronics Co. launched Samsung POS, an app that it says will let merchants accept near-field communication payments on their mobile devices. Developed with payments-technology firm Mobeewave, Samsung POS is aimed at micro-merchants and other small …
Read More »Google Pay Gains Transit Connection and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/14/19
Cubic Corp.’s Cubic Transportation Systems unit agreed to integrate contactless transit cards with Alphabet Inc.’s Google Pay mobile-payments app. The integration will begin with contactless payment systems for transit in London, Miami, and New York.BMW, General Motors, Ford, Renault, and Honda will reportedly begin testing a blockchain-based in-car identification and payment system next month …
Read More »Fattmerchant Adds Online-Review Integration and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/11/19
Payments provider Fattmerchant launched an online-reviews integration feature, which provides merchants the ability to view and respond to reviews, such as those on Google, within the Fattmerchant platform.Aiming at hourly workers, a startup called Branch launched a free digital checking account and a debit card through Evolve Bank & Trust and Mastercard Inc.Cybersecurity firm GM …
Read More »Mobile Wallets Dominate the News, But Most Consumers Still Want Physical Gift Cards
The holidays are approaching, and with that annual shopping frenzy comes a yearly boost in gift card sales. As it turns out, though, most gift cards are likely to be plastic or paper rather than digital, according to consumer and small-business research released Thursday. While preference for digital cards is growing, …
Read More »Vineyard Adds Crypto Payment Options and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/10/19
Rabble Wine Co. said it now accepts more than 40 cryptocurrencies on its Web site and in its tasting room via an integration with CoinPayments Inc.Consumer revolving credit contracted by 2.2% in August on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis following July’s 10.5% increase, the Federal Reserve reported. The Fed estimated revolving credit outstandings, …
Read More »Intuit To Bring More Small And Mid-Sized Businesses to Visa Direct
Small and mid-sized businesses using Intuit Inc.’s QuickBooks accounting software and payment-processing service will be able to get funds faster through Visa Inc.’s Visa Direct service, the companies announced Wednesday. Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit rolled out Instant Deposit for its SMB customers using QuickBooks Payments. Instant Deposit uses the Visa …
Read More »Mercator Releases Prepaid Card Report and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/9/19
Mercator Advisory Group released its “Prepaid Cards: Continued Growth” report.Payment security technology developer Sequent Software Inc. named Richard Nassar vice president of product management. Nassar is a former Visa Inc. executive.Travel card provider UATP named David Jimenez chief commercial officer. Jimenez’s career includes stints at Chase Paymentech, Ingenico, and CenPOS.Point-of-sale finance provider Afterpay Touch Group said …
Read More »The FBI Warns of Attacks on Multifactor Authentication Defenses
The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently notified cybersecurity companies about attacks that could defeat multifactor authentication systems protecting sensitive online personal and financial data, systems usually considered much stronger than two-factor authentication combinations such as user names and passwords. The FBI last month quietly sent a so-called private-industry notification (PIN)—a …
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