PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo peer-to-peer payment service has been a fabulously popular product among users, but from PayPal’s point of view it has one big problem: It’s free. Since users don’t pay for the service, PayPal has to seek Venmo revenue elsewhere. Now, with a test about to start for …
September, 2017
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11 September
How Online Payments Will Change, or Won’t Change, Upon Amazon’s Patent Expiration
Patents usually get the most attention when a person or company files for one, but the one held by Amazon.com Inc. for single-click buying that is set to expire Tuesday is generating plenty of buzz about how much, if at all, e-commerce will change when it’s gone. Granted by the …
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11 September
Equifax Breach Comes As Merchants And Banks Struggle With Outsized Fraud
Last week’s disclosure that hackers had accessed up to 143 million credit records at Equifax Inc. has stirred fears of a tsunami of fraud in coming months. But physical and online merchants are already struggling not only with a huge threat of fraud, but with a stunning fraud cost that …
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11 September
Irma Rains on PCI Council Meeting and other Digital Transactions News briefs
Q2 Holdings Inc., a provider of digital-banking solutions, launched CardSwap, an application that allows consumers to automatically switch credit or debit card information across their network of subscription and retail merchants. The first client to adopt the service is Chime, which provides branchless bank accounts. Because of Hurricane Irma, the PCI Security …
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8 September
‘Not a Good Day’ at Equifax As Payment Implications Emerge from a Huge Data Hack
In the hours after credit-reporting giant Equifax Inc. disclosed a massive data breach, consumers and businesses were left scrambling Friday to piece together the implications. But a range of consequences could affect Equifax itself as the Atlanta-based company struggles to recover from an epic hack that affected potentially 143 million …
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8 September
VeriFone Inches Closer To Taxi Selloff While It Looks To Growth in Fiscal 2018
VeriFone Systems Inc. is getting closer to a sale of its payments service for taxis, the company announced Thursday during its third-quarter earnings call. Announced in June, the divestiture of the taxi business, which VeriFone started 12 years ago, is in an active process, Paul Galant, chief executive, told analysts …
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8 September
Zelle Notes 100 Million Transactions and other Digital Transactions News briefs
Bank-owned Early Warning Services LLC said its new Zelle person-to-person payment service processed 100 million transactions in 2017’s first half for payments totaling $33.6 billion. More than 50,000 consumers are enrolling daily in a network that could connect 86 million consumers through the mobile-banking apps of participating banks and credit unions, Early Warning …
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7 September
Square To Apply for Bank Charter, a Move Likely To Irk Banks
Square Inc. will apply for a Utah industrial bank charter today, a move that will extend the merchant processor’s move into lending and one which could draw the opposition of banks. The bank will be capitalized with $56 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. The financial operation will be …
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7 September
Global Payments Completes Active Deal and other Digital Transactions News briefs
Francisco Partners, a private-equity fund, has made an investment in Network Merchants Inc., a provider of payments technology and gateways to merchants and independent sales organizations. The unspecified investment is said to be “substantial.” Consequent to the deal, existing investor Bregal Sagemount will exit, and existing investor Great Hill Partners will …
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6 September
In Faster Payments, a New Role for the Fed Could Include Processing Services
The Federal Reserve issued a report on Wednesday that indicates the nation’s central bank could play a much more active role in faster payments than many have expected, up to and including providing alternative processing services. Up to now, the Fed has limited its role to sponsoring working groups that …