Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Stolen European payment card numbers and related data are popular imports in the U.S. black market, which is why European bankers, merchants and data-protection executives are looking forward to America’s EMV chip card liability shift that takes effect Thursday. That’s the word from Jeremy King, international director of the Wakefield, …
Read More »Card Manufacturer’s IPO Filing Opens a Window Into the U.S. EMV Conversion
The conversion of U.S. general-purpose payment cards to the EMV chip card standard is providing windfalls for all sorts of card-industry vendors. A new example comes from the big plastic card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc., which has filed for a possible initial public offering of stock. EMV cards accounted …
Read More »Eye on Security: Visa-Target Settlement; Ashley Madison Hackers Post Payment Data
Visa Inc. has struck a settlement with Target Corp. that would reimburse Visa’s credit and debit card issuers up to $67 million for their expenses related to Target’s massive data breach in late 2013. Meanwhile, hackers who stole data from the Ashley Madison Web site have posted seven years of …
Read More »Looking for Nationwide EMV by October? Don’t Hold Your Breath, Surveys Say
With just 55 days to go, separate studies released this week show that the Oct. 1 target date for the U.S. to adopt the EMV chip card standard is looking more and more like a psychological deadline than a real one. Both merchants and credit and debit card issuers are …
Read More »Visa Posts 25% Profit Increase as U.S. Credit and Debit Volumes Climb
A tepid world economy didn’t stop Visa Inc. from posting an 8% increase in global transaction volume and a 25% jump in net income for the quarter ended June 30. The leading payment card network on Thursday reported operating revenues of $3.52 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Why I Have Only One Apple Pay Credential Loaded for Apple Watch
There’s something off about the Apple Watch, especially when it comes to Apple Pay. It’s a bit of a hassle to set up. Let me explain. When I got the watch the other day, the feature I first wanted to activate was Apple Pay, the contactless payment service Apple Inc. …
Read More »Xoom Faces Growing Competition From PayPal and Traditional Wire-Transfer Rivals
Despite its strengths, online wire-transfer provider Xoom Inc. faces increasingly tough competition from newer market entrants such as PayPal Inc., which is taking its popular Venmo person-to-person payments service abroad, and from established agent-based providers such as The Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc., which are increasing their online …
Read More »Eye on Security: NCR Warns of New ATM Attack Method; Breach Suspected at Theme Park
Leading ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. this week issued a warning about a new variant of card skimming that gives an ATM user no clue that the machine’s card reader is stealing debit card information. Meanwhile, a report says payment cards used at a theme park in Hershey, Pa., may have …
Read More »Green Dot Forges a ‘More Certain Path Forward’ With Five-Year Wal-Mart MoneyCard Deal
Green Dot Corp. late Monday removed a big source of uncertainty about its near-term future by announcing a five-year renewal of its contract with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to be both program manager and issuer of the Wal-Mart MoneyCard prepaid product. But while the deal secures a major source of revenue …
Read More »As Debit Issuing Lags, Don’t Expect Debit and Credit EMV Parity Any Time Soon
Consumers this fall will begin to dip a lot of EMV credit cards into EMV-compatible point-of-sale terminals, but not so many EMV debit cards. That’s the assessment from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. in its “Prediction for the U.S. Migration to EMV Debit Cards” report released last week. By Oct. 1, …
Read More »