News

December, 2018

• 11 December

  Is Facial-Recognition Technology Hurting Apple Pay?

  

  Adoption and usage rates for the mobile wallets from Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. (Google), and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have been far from stellar, but now evidence is emerging that Apple’s decision a year ago to ditch fingerprint identification on its newest smart phones in favor of facial-recognition technology could …
• 11 December

  New Report Shows the Massive Scale of Bot Attacks

  

  Large companies are getting bombarded by approximately 530 bot attacks per day, and the vast majority of more than 200 firms surveyed have at least one person on their security teams devoted solely to bot defense, according to Osterman Research Inc. Osterman, a Black Diamond, Wash.-based research firm that works …
• 11 December

  Congressional Report Says Equifax Breach Was Preventable and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/11/18

  

  Cloud-based point-of-sale system maker ShopKeep said it closed a $65 million funding round, led by Tribeca Venture Partners, that it will use for expansion and growth purposes. New investors include First Data Corp. and Salesforce Ventures. A staff report released by Republicans on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform …
• 10 December

  Government Releases Report on Campus Prepaid Card and Deposit-Account Fees

  

  A report from the U.S. Department of Education shows that fees college students pay for campus-sponsored prepaid cards and deposit accounts can vary widely. The report was prepared by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the Education Department and completed in February, but not released until Friday. The release came …
• 10 December

  Behavioral Solutions Arrive to Fight a Fast-Rising Plague of Account-Takeover Losses

  

  With massive data breaches hitting the headlines and account-takeover fraud booming, payments players are scrambling for solutions. One possibility is so-called behavioral biometrics, a science that tries to detect imposters’ fraudulent activity in real time by comparing their online behavior with the known patterns of a genuine user. The latest …
• 10 December

  Suitor Submits Another Mitek Bid and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/10/18

  

  In an escalation of its bidding war for remote deposit capture software provider Mitek Systems Inc., business-software firm ASG Technologies, a portfolio company of the hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., upped its unsolicited buyout offer from $10 per Mitek share to $11.50 in cash. ASG also said there are no …
• 7 December

  As Mobile Checkout Evolves, Companies Like Scandit Find A Place in Payments

  

  7-Eleven Inc. is among the latest retailers to empower consumers to become their own point-of-sale checkout when they use an app on their smart phones. A central component of that capability is the image-capture tool built into the app. The 7-Eleven Scan & Pay service, which is in tests now and …
• 7 December

  Hulu Becomes Venmo’s First TV-Streaming Merchant Acceptor

  

  Television streaming service Hulu LLC says it now accepts PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo peer-to-peer payment service. Hulu could be a major win in PayPal’s ongoing effort to increase the popular Venmo’s profitability because the service will generate a recurring revenue stream. Founded in 2007, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Hulu competes with …
• 7 December

  Mobile Biller Boku Picks up ID Technology With a $68 Million Deal for Danal

  

  Bill-to-mobile is often sidelined in discussions about mobile payments, but Boku Inc. brought the technique to center stage this week with a deal to acquire San Jose, Calif.-based Danal Inc. Boku’s shares, which trade on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, fell in the wake of the announcement, with …
• 7 December

  UATP Adds Chase Pay to its Network and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/7/18

  

  UATP, an airline-owned payment network, said it is adding Chase Pay to its network, a move that should make it easier for airlines to accept JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Pay in their apps and Web sites. NCR Corp. completed its $184 million acquisition of merchant processor JetPay Corp. Payments …