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Payment processor Total System Services Inc. sees new opportunities in merchant acquiring while No. 3 credit card network American Express Co. saw a double-digit jump in charge volume in the fourth quarter, an indication of a possible revival in consumer spending. Boosted by its new business from merchant acquirer First …
Read More »Consumers Still Skeptical of Mobile Payments, But Attitudes May Change Soon
Despite the hype about mobile payments, most consumers still aren't comfortable using smart phones to pay for things, according to new research from the Bank Administration Institute and Hitachi Consulting. That, however, could change, and change soon. The study also shows that debit remains consumers' preferred payment choice, though its …
Read More »Durbin Challenger Cooper of TCF Says, ‘I Told You So’
It was an “I-told-you-so moment” Thursday morning for William A. Cooper, the outspoken chairman and chief executive of TCF Financial Corp. Cooper said many bankers dismissed TCF’s assertion that the Federal Reserve Board, in carrying out the dictates of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law’s Durbin Amendment, would cut debit card interchange …
Read More »Breach Investigations Show Alarming Advances In Malware
Hackers continue to improve malware, third-party vendors continue to serve their clients poorly when it comes to data security, and the evidence points to Russia as the single biggest source of attacks on databases. Those are some of the highlights in the new Global Security Report 2011 from Trustwave Holdings …
Read More »Eye on Mobile: Starbucks Pilot Goes National, Acculynk Goes Mobile, And Mitek Logs Clients
In the largest U.S. chainwide expansion yet seen in mobile payments, Starbucks Coffee Co. announced on Wednesday it is extending its proprietary, prepaid mobile payments pilot to all of its U.S. company-owned stores. The move brings the chain’s Starbucks Card Mobile App to almost 6,800 stores and increases the number …
Read More »Acquirers Will Benefit from Durbin, But Gain Could be Short-Lived
In the wake of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed interchange caps for debit cards, as well as Visa Inc.’s decision to introduce dual interchange tables for debit, much discussion has focused on the impact of radically reduced interchange income on issuing banks. But an often overlooked factor concerns just how …
Read More »Visa Commits to a Two-Tier Debit Card Interchange Structure
In an apparent effort to calm its smaller debit card issuers, Visa Inc. says it will develop a two-tier interchange schedule, one with regulated rates arising from the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law and the other with unregulated rates applicable to banks and credit unions with fewer than $10 billion in assets. …
Read More »Data Breaches Stabilize in 2010, But There’s an Asterisk
At first glance, a review of the data-breach scene in 2010 shows signs of improvement, or at least stabilization, according to figures from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). Although the total number of reported breaches increased to 662 from 498 in 2009, the number of records known to have …
Read More »Sharp Comments Flow into Fed in Wake of Interchange Proposals
The comments are flowing in to the Federal Reserve Board in the wake of the board’s controversial proposals to set a 12-cent cap on debit card interchange, ban exclusive network agreements on debit cards, and give merchants more freedom to direct the routing of debit transactions. To a large degree, …
Read More »Consumers Open Wallets, Hike Spending 5.5% in Run-up to Christmas
Consumers brought holiday cheer back to merchants and payment processors in the run-up to Christmas this year, spending 5.5% more during the period than they did last year and giving signs that they are opening wallets and purses again after a long recession and rocky recovery. Especially noteworthy were sharp …
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