News

January, 2017

• 6 January

  Unique IDs, Easier Checkout, And Marketplaces Are the Top Payments Trends: Report

  

  Efforts to create unique identification markers for consumers across different merchants will be a challenge for many merchants this year, SIX Payment Services, the payment-processing arm of SIX, operator of Switzerland’s financial-market infrastructure, notes in a report released Wednesday. “Some payment-service providers are working on the idea of introducing a …
• 6 January

  As Credit Unions Adopt EMV, They Start To See Quick Gains in Fraud Reduction

  

  Credit unions are making fast progress in their rollout of EMV chip cards, according to an update from PSCU, a major payments processor for this segment of the financial-services industry. Some 85% of PSCU’s clients have introduced, or are introducing, EMV credit cards, while the corresponding number for EMV debit …
• 5 January

  Final Holiday Spending Tally Shows a 12% Increase in Desktop E-Commerce

  

  U.S. online retail spending through home and work desktop computers in the 2016 holiday season totaled $63.1 billion, up 12% from $56.4 billion in 2015, Internet metrics firm comScore Inc. reported Thursday. “The 2016 online holiday shopping season had another successful year, with desktop growth rates in line with our …
• 5 January

  EVO Buys Sterling Payment Technologies and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Merchant processor EVO Payments International has acquired payments-solutions specialist Sterling Payment Technologies. Paul Hunter, Sterling’s president and chief executive, will manage the Sterling unit within EVO. Terms of the deal were not announced. • An app called Clarity Money has debuted to help consumers manage their finances by performing such chores as negotiating bills, choosing …
• 5 January

  How the Chase Pay-LevelUp Partnership Could Boost Order-Ahead Tech for Mobile Apps

  

  When JPMorgan Chase & Co. decided to recruit order-ahead capability for its Chase Pay mobile wallet, it settled on a 6-year-old mobile payments startup whose technology could give Chase Pay a vital boost in a crucial merchant segment. Meanwhile, the alliance could also bring tens of millions of new customers …
• 5 January

  USA Technologies Lets Users Tap Apple Pay Data To Enroll in Its Loyalty Program

  

  Vending-payments specialist USA Technologies Inc. is integrating its MORE. loyalty platform into Apple Pay, the company announced Thursday. The deal is designed to induce more consumers to use Apple Pay at almost 300,000 vending machines that use USAT’s contactless payment technology and to encourage them to use the MORE. program. …
• 4 January

  British Competition Authorities Question Mastercard’s VocaLink Acquisition

  

  The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is questioning Mastercard Inc.’s planned $920 million acquisition of London-based VocaLink Holdings Ltd., a deal which if consummated would give Mastercard a strong presence in several non-card payment systems, including the Faster Payments initiative in the United States. VocaLink operates Bacs, the U.K.’s …
• 4 January

  Payment Alliance International Buys ATM Operator and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Processor and retail ATM operator Payment Alliance International acquired Avery Scott LLC, operator of 400 ATMs in the Louisville, Ky., area. PAI, whose network has more than 74,000 ATMs, will retain Avery Scott’s employees and affiliates. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. • E-commerce marketplace Shop.com has contracted with processor World First USA …
• 3 January

  Could Consumers Finally Embrace Mobile Payments ‘In a Big Way’ in 2017?

  

  It’s been said for years, but 2017 finally could be the year for mobile payments, according to Chetan Sharma, a prominent consultant in the mobile-technology space. “Fueled by demonetization in India and the rise of viable mobile-payment solutions worldwide, we expect mobile payments to enter the consumer consciousness in a …
• 3 January

  Harbortouch Releases Spa & Salon POS Service and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Microsoft Corp. has made further details available about Web Payments, a feature it announced last month it is introducing for both Windows 10 PCs and Windows 10 Mobile. The feature will work with the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers and will allow Microsoft Wallet users to more easily make purchases on …