Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Wells Fargo Bank N.A.’s announcement Tuesday that it would launch a mobile wallet with payments capability built into the Android version of its banking app could be a win for the bank, and herald similar moves by other banks. That’s the assessment from Daniel Van Dyke, an analyst at Javelin …
Read More »Rewards Cards: Rewarding for Issuers, but What About Merchants?
Rewards and loyalty cards are now common in the U.S. payments landscape, but new research findings show just how popular such cards have become. A study by Phoenix Marketing International says 93% of all credit card spending is now done on rewards cards, up from 88% in 2013. A separate …
Read More »The Opposing Sides in Green Dot’s Acrimonious Proxy Fight Dole Out Voting Advice
The increasingly dramatic proxy fight at prepaid card issuer Green Dot Corp., a fight that could cost its founder, chairman, and chief executive Steven W. Streit his job if management loses, took an interesting turn Monday when Green Dot said it would appoint George Gresham, a director nominee from the …
Read More »Dwolla’s Faster-Payments Plan and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• Money-transfer specialist Dwolla Inc. submitted a 164-page proposal for speedier electronic payments, dubbed FiSync, to the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force. • Fuel-pump manufacturer Gilbarco Veeder-Root introduced its FlexPay IV, a payment terminal developed with VeriFone Systems Inc. that Gilbarco says is the industry’s first terminal for a …
Read More »Customer Contact Centers Are the “Fraud-Enablement Channel,” Researcher Says
With the rollout of EMV chip cards in the United States shrinking opportunities for criminals to use counterfeit cards at the point of sale, fraud rings are turning their attention to customer-contact centers as a way to fraudulently order replacement credit and debit cards and take over consumer accounts. More …
Read More »Visa Inc. Revises Deal To Acquire Visa Europe, and Pays More for Client Incentives
Visa Inc. will be paying more upfront cash to acquire Visa Europe Ltd., and it paid more in client incentives in the quarter ending March 31. But the leading payment card network still managed to turn a tidy profit and saw double-digit increases in U.S. transaction volumes even though volume …
Read More »EMV Chargebacks Proving To Be a Card-Present Merchant Problem
Hiccups in the U.S. payment card industry’s monumental shift to EMV chip card technology are beginning to surface, and one problematic area is chargebacks among card-present merchants. That’s the observation from one large merchant-services provider, and it’s corroborated by a recent report from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. containing similar …
Read More »Citi’s Deal To Buy the AmEx Costco Portfolio Moves a Step Closer
The cessation of the cobranded Costco Wholesale Corp. credit card issued by American Express Co. moved another step closer with Monday’s announcement that Citigroup will buy the AmEx Costco portfolio for an unspecified sum. Citi’s acquisition of the portfolio is expected to close this summer. That’s when Citi will begin to …
Read More »Payment Card Manufacturer Sees Growing Interest in Dual-Interface Cards
The first chapter in the U.S. conversion to the EMV chip card standard is not even complete, but a leading payment card manufacturer sees growing interest in the next chapter, one that could be centered on so-called dual-interface cards that enable contact and contactless transactions. The vast majority of U.S. …
Read More »Green Dot Launches New Products, Aims To Be a ‘Fin-Tech Powered Branchless Bank’
Green Dot Corp. announced a number of a new products Wednesday and said it was getting into lending in order to generate new revenues and expand beyond its prepaid card base. Under pressure from a large investor to boost its bottom line and flagging stock price, Pasadena, Calif.-based Green Dot reported …
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