Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Consumers are weary of dealing with the fallout from data breaches and want a better way to minimize their risk. The backers of Final, a new credit card with online-management tools that can set spending caps and produce virtual card numbers tied to specific merchants, hope to alleviate some of …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: Card Volume Up for AmEx And Discover, But AmEx To Cut Jobs
American Express Co. reported $182.5 billion in U.S. card-billed business in the fourth quarter, up 7.9% from $169.1 billion a year earlier, and discount-fee revenues increased 1.8% to $4.99 billion from $4.90 billion. The average worldwide discount rate, however, decreased three basis points to 2.45% of the sale. American Express …
Read More »U.S. Card Producers Prepare To Crank Out EMV Cards in Big Numbers
By Jim Daly U.S. credit and debit card issuers will be mailing hundreds of millions of Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards to their customers this year and next now that the payment card networks’ EMV liability shift looms just eight months away. Estimates about chip card issuance vary, but all involve …
Read More »With EMV’s Liability Shift, Acquirers Face Consumer-Fraud Risk for the First Time
With a crucial deadline just 266 days away, the payments industry is starting to look at just what kind of fraud liability—and how much fraud—merchant acquirers will have to assume if their merchants aren’t ready to accept Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards by October. There’s about $6 billion annually in lost, …
Read More »COMMENTARY: How 2015 Could Be a Watershed Year for Digital Banking
According to the 2014 World Retail Banking Report from Capgemini and Efma, less than 40% (a decrease from 41.6% in 2013 to 39.5% in 2014) of customers globally reported having positive customer experiences with their bank. The main reason for this dissatisfaction is the bank’s failure to develop a comprehensive …
Read More »Wire-Transfer Provider Xoom Hit by $31 Million International Fraud Scam
Online wire-transfer provider Xoom Inc. reported Monday that it will take a $30.8 million one-time charge as a result of a scam in which the same amount of its cash was transferred abroad. Xoom also said that its chief financial officer had resigned. San Francisco-based Xoom declared in a regulatory …
Read More »Small Banks on the Hook for $90 Million in Home Depot Breach; Staples Updates Breach News
Small banks spent $90 million to reissue 7.5 million credit and debit cards in the wake of a payment-card data breach at The Home Depot Inc., says the Independent Community Bankers of America association, which has more than 6,500 member banks. First publicly known in September the Home Depot …
Read More »Health-Care EFT Transaction Volume Via the ACH Grows Nearly 180% in a Year
Health-care electronic funds transfers via the automated clearing house network increased by 177% from October 2013, the first full month a new rule intended to spur such payments was in effect, through September 2014, ACH governing body NACHA reported Monday. Herndon, Va.-based NACHA says transaction volume in September was 15.5 …
Read More »Major Prepaid Card Providers Give a Polite Response to the CFPB’s Proposed Regs
Some of the nation’s largest prepaid card companies are either giving a public thumbs up to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed regulations for prepaid card accounts or at least not saying they’re spoiling for a fight with the federal government. Steve Streit, chairman and chief executive of Pasadena, Calif.-based …
Read More »Mailings Promoting EMV Cards Pick Up As Issuers Prepare For Liability Shift
The message about the coming shift to chip card payments using the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) standard is getting out there, says Competiscan, a direct marketing firm. The Chicago-based firm says its analysis finds that mentions of EMV in direct mail pieces from card issuers increased from less than 3% of …
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