News

February, 2016

• 10 February

  Consumer Appeal of Peer-to-Peer Payments Widens As P2P Services See Volume Climb

  With PayPal Holdings Inc. promoting its fast-growing Venmo peer-to-peer payments service and rumors that Apple Inc. is eyeing the business, P2P transfers are starting to take center stage in the consumer-payments business. And now a new survey indicates the service is growing in appeal to consumers for a variety of …
• 10 February

  Despite Some Fourth-Quarter Improvements, Wall Street Punishes First Data

  Leading payment processor First Data Corp. late Tuesday reported modest revenue and transaction growth in 2015’s fourth quarter, as well as better pre-tax profitability and an improved balance sheet in the wake of its October initial public offering, but investors still didn’t like what they saw. The Atlanta-based company’s stock …
• 9 February

  A New Visa Tool Enables Transaction Limits for Credit, Debit, And Prepaid Cards

  Visa Inc. has launched Visa Consumer Transaction Controls, a service that lets Visa-card issuing institutions offer cardholders the ability to set transaction limits with their credit, debit, and prepaid cards. Visa says it works with more than 14,000 financial institutions, but does not provide a U.S.-specific total. Announced Tuesday, the …
• 9 February

  The PCI Council Sets Security Rules for Token Service Providers as their Role Grows

  With the coming of mobile payments and their attendant security issues expanding demand for so-called token service providers, the PCI Security Standards Council has issued rules intended to keep the tokenization environment safe. The Wakefield, Mass.-based PCI Council in December quietly released a 92-page document titled, “Additional Security Requirements and …
• 8 February

  A Tipping Point May Be Nearing for NFC Terminals, But Some Big Retailers Aren’t Sold

  How many point-of-sale terminals have to be enabled for near-field communication (NFC) before the technology becomes a must-have experience for consumers in stores? In the U.S., at least, the answer is 35% of the installed base, according to Osama Bedier, president of Poynt Co., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup that …
• 8 February

  Universal Card Coin Faces a Lawsuit Over Alleged Misrepresentations

  The prospect of ubiquitous merchant acceptance and the ability to carry just one card in lieu of several was too much of a promise, alleges a lawsuit filed last week against Coin Inc., a startup offering a universal card service. Filed on behalf of two consumers who each purchased a …
• 5 February

  Despite ‘EMV Cloud,’ Cardtronics Pushes Forward With Growth Plans

  Look for more ATM placements, capital spending, and possible acquisitions by leading retail ATM network owner and operator Cardtronics Inc. in 2016. The growth plan mostly conforms to the long-term strategy the company has been following in recent years, according to comments by top Cardtronics executives late Thursday. Houston-based Cardtronics …
• 4 February

  Eye on Branding: Vantiv Renames Mercury and Element; PayPal Debuts ‘New Money’ Campaign

  Vantiv Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. are, separately, creating new looks for their brands. Vantiv, which bought integrated-payments specialist Mercury Payment Systems LLC in 2014  for $1.65 billion, is renaming Mercury and Element Payment Services, an integrated-payments provider it purchased in 2013, as a single unit called Vantiv Integrated Payments. This …
• 4 February

  Visa Opens Scores of Its APIs to Developers in a Bid To Speed Payments Innovation

  In a move that recognizes the powerful role application developers play in the global payments arena, Visa Inc. on Thursday opened scores of its application programming interfaces to thousands of outsiders worldwide, including merchants, banks, and technology companies. The new program, called Visa Developer, embraces some 155 APIs and includes …
• 3 February

  Eye on Acquirers: Charge Volumes and Processing Revenues Grow for Vantiv and Heartland

  Two leading merchant acquirers, Vantiv Inc. and Heartland Payment Systems Inc., are reporting strong transaction growth in their most recent financials. Boosted in part by its first full year of owning Mercury Payment Systems, Symmes Township, Ohio-based Vantiv on Wednesday said its Merchant Services segment processed 19 billion transactions in 2015, …