News

April, 2021

• 12 April

  More Than a Year Into the Pandemic, Concerns Are Still Swirling About Bans on Cash

  

  More than a year after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, igniting fears that the virus could be spread by handling currency, a group of three financial associations and a Chicago-based cash-in-transit and money-protection service sent a letter Monday to members of Congress, governors, and state legislators around the country warning about the …
• 12 April

  Buy Now, Pay Later Reveals a ‘More Nuanced Picture,’ According to the Latest Research

  

  The buy now, pay later capability now offered by myriad providers is sweeping the country, but may include a few drawbacks that could hinder future growth, according to a report issued Monday. Research for the report, which included a survey early this year of some 1,500 U.S. consumers, revealed that …
• 12 April

  3-D Secure Use up 73% and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/12/21

  

  Cybersecurity provider RSA said payment transaction volume using 3-D Secure increased 73% globally in 2020 over 2019 in its RSA Quarterly Fraud report for the 2021 first quarter.The payments provider FreedomPay said the Foot Locker Inc. chain has installed its payments system across Foot Locker’s more than 2,000 U.S. stores.Workflow-automation company DocuPhase announced it has acquired …
• 9 April

  Account Takeover Is Still A Major—And Underestimated— Problem, Says Arkose Labs

  

  While account takeover is a major concern for financial institutions and merchants, many underestimate the cost as well as the frequency of attacks, says a report released Thursday by Arkose Labs, a San Francisco-based provider of fraud-prevention technology. Indeed, one of the costliest aspects of account takeovers is the loss of …
• 9 April

  Square Debuts in Ireland and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/9/21

  

  Square Inc. entered the acquiring market in Ireland with its Early Access Program, which offers small and medium-size merchants what the company calls exclusive access to Square technology. Square expects to launch its technology generally in Ireland later this year.Transact Holdings Inc., a specialist in payments technology for college campuses, said …
• 8 April

  COMMENTARY: Central Banks Are Pondering the Privacy/Transparency Balance of CBDCs

  

  “We are looking very carefully at the question of whether we should issue a digital dollar,” said Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell in testimony before the Senate banking committee. “We are the world’s reserve currency and we have a responsibility to get this right.” As digital currency moves from the …
• 8 April

  Transaction Volume Is On the Road to Recovery After Getting Hammered by Covid, Says Shift4

  

  Just over a year after transaction volume in many merchant segments flatlined due to the economic turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, activity is showing a steadily strengthening pulse, according to data released Thursday by Shift4 Payments Inc. In March, Shift4’s end-to-end transaction volume totaled $3.3 billion, up 40% from …
• 8 April

  Eye on Retail: Forter’s Anti-Fraud Tools; Mastercard’s 26.3% Retail Sales Increase

  

  Forter Ltd., a specialist in online-fraud prevention, says merchants using the Magento e-commerce platform now have access to its services. Meanwhile, Mastercard Inc. says total U.S. retail sales increased 26.3% in March from March 2020. Online retailers using Adobe Inc.’s Magento platform can use a Magento plugin to ease the …
• 8 April

  Adyen Adds Afterpay Option and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/8/21

  

  Payments provider Adyen NV said it is offering the buy now, pay later service from Afterpay Ltd. to its merchants in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.PayMaple LLC, a payments-technology provider specializing in automobile dealerships, said it has joined a partner program from CDK Global Inc., a …
• 7 April

  Payments Fraud Is Down Substantially, But Still A Serious Problem, Says the AFP

  

  In 2020, 74% of organizations were targets of payments fraud, down from 81% in 2019 and 82% 2018, according to the Association for Financial Professionals’ annual fraud report. The Bethesda, Md.-based association has surveyed companies across myriad industries yearly for 17 years. Large organizations, those with annual revenue of $1 …