News

April, 2018

• 10 April

  Despite Its Sprawling Size, the ACH Has Been Racking up Impressive Growth

  

  The nation’s automated clearing house network is on a tear. Transaction volume grew by 6.3% for the fourth quarter of 2017 and by 5.7% for the full year, according to numbers released late Tuesday by NACHA, the governing body for the ACH system. All told, the network handled $46.8 trillion …
• 10 April

  New Verizon Report Sheds Light on Hospitality-Industry Data Breaches

  

  Data breaches at restaurants and hotels are nothing new, but a just-out report from Verizon Communications Inc. shows how extensively the hospitality industry gets hit by hackers. New York City-based Verizon, which besides telecommunications has a large business in investigating data breaches, says in its latest annual breach study that …
• 10 April

  A $3.4 Billion Deal Aims To Take VeriFone Private Again

  

  VeriFone Systems Inc. once again is preparing to become a privately held enterprise, according to Monday’s announcement that an investor group led by Francisco Partners has agreed to buy the point-of-sale terminal and services provider for $3.4 billion. The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, values each VeriFone …
• 10 April

  Ransomware Attacks Double in 2017 and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/10/18

  

  The Dutch payments processor Adyen is considering an initial public offering in June that could value the company at between $7 billion and $11 billion, Reuters reported. Adyen, whose U.S. operation is based in San Francisco, recently won a contract to process transactions for eBay Inc., which will start moving …
• 9 April

  Billers Turn Their Attention to Improving Payments on Mobile Devices

  

  Creating statements optimized for mobile devices is the biggest area of development for new digital payment options from billers, according to recent research done for payment technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc. The study by London-based technology researcher Ovum in December and January gathered responses from 1,032 executives in 10 countries …
• 9 April

  Apps Will Be a Major Force in Payments For Years to Come, a Report Argues

  

  Payments companies wondering how digital payments will evolve and what impact today’s younger consumers might have as they age may want to consider the role of apps, suggests the “Future of Money Study 2018” from Koski Research Inc. San Francisco-based Koski, in research that included 1,000 U.S. adults and a …
• 9 April

  Bitcoin’s Costs Have Plunged In Recent Months, But Its Volatile Value Could Scare Merchants

  

  When the price of Bitcoin spiraled to dizzying heights last year, so did its costs for those who wanted to exchange the digital currency rather than hoard it. Places that accepted Bitcoin, some of them for years, announced they would stop taking it. Since December, Bitcoin’s price has famously slid …
• 9 April

  Masterpass Coming to Phillips 66 App and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/9/18

  

  Mi9 Retail, a vendor of point-of-sale software, announced an integration that will allow merchants to process transactions through payments provider Adyen’s platform. Mi9 serves more than 450 retail businesses globally. Mastercard Inc. said Phillips 66 later this year will integrate Masterpass into the My Phillips 66 app, which will allow …
• 6 April

  Best Buy Customers Have Also Been Caught Up in Vendor Payment Data Breach

  

  Count Best Buy Co. Inc. as another unwilling member of the [24]7.ai Inc. breach that has yielded customer payment information already from Sears Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. In a statement released Thursday, Best Buy disclosed that an unspecified number of customers were affected when the online chat …
• 6 April

  Is Amazon Mulling a P2P Payment Function for Its Alexa Voice Commerce Service?

  

  The mere hint that Amazon.com Inc. could add a person-to-person payments function to its Alexa voice-commerce service was enough early Friday to shave value off of the shares of PayPal Holdings Inc. and Square Inc., both of which offer P2P networks. At mid-morning, Square’s shares were down more than 3% …