Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
On Wednesday, PayPal Holdings Inc. made it clear it hasn’t given up on expanding its reach with merchants beyond processing e-commerce payments. The company announced a new in-app payments initiative for its popular Venmo peer-to-peer payments app, a move that follows a recent agreement with First Data Corp. that furthers …
January, 2016
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26 January
More Mobile Payments This Year Will Likely Mean More Fraud Potential, FICO Warns
To the extent there is greater mobile-payments use among merchants and consumers this year, that increase will likely bring with it a greater potential for fraud. That’s the cautionary note from Fair Isaac Corp. executive T.J. Horan, vice president of fraud solutions at the analytics-software company. In-store mobile payments will …
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26 January
Green Dot Responds in Measured Tones After Fiery Investor Calls for CEO’s Firing
Prepaid card services provider Green Dot Corp. has struggled to make profits sufficiently large to keep restive shareholders at bay since it became a publicly traded company in 2010. Now one of those shareholders, Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, is calling for the ouster of company founder and chief executive Steve …
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26 January
In a Bid to Build on Strengths, TSYS Clinches a $2.35 Billion Deal To Buy TransFirst
Processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) is buying acquirer TransFirst Holdings Inc. for $2.35 billion, Columbus, Ga.-based TSYS announced Tuesday. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, puts an end to TransFirst’s plans to explore an initial public offering. Hauppauge, N.Y.-based TransFirst last October filed an …
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25 January
With an Improved Price Performance, Bitcoin Faces a Debate Over How to Grow
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has skidded about 8% since the end of 2015, putting a scare in investors and prompting talk of everything from a market correction to another recession. Unnoticed, however, is that the price of the digital currency Bitcoin has followed an almost identical path, dropping approximately …
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25 January
Euronet’s HiFX Marks U.S., Canada International Funds Transfer Debut
Corporations and wealthy consumers have a new option when they need to move funds internationally. HiFX, a unit of Euronet Worldwide Inc., has begun offering its services to U.S. and Canadian clients. Acquired by Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet in 2014, U.K.-based HiFX enables users to transfer funds internationally in 28 currencies, …
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25 January
For the First Time, Smart Phones Beat Tablets for Share of Online Transactions, Adyen Says
For e-commerce merchants, the screen is getting smaller very quickly, according to the latest quarterly report from payments company Adyen. Some 17.5% of all e-commerce transactions on Adyen’s platform in the fourth quarter were made with a smart phone, compared to 16% with a tablet, the Netherlands-based company said late …
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21 January
AmEx Plans $1 Billion in Cost Cuts As Part of an Effort to Rebound From a Sub-Par 2015
In 2015, American Express Co. had a bad year. Hit hard by competitive pressures on merchant fees and cobrand-card returns, as well as swooning gasoline prices, the big card network on Thursday reported a 4% decline in revenue net of interest expense for the year to $32.8 billion, its first …
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21 January
Starbucks Gets a Jolt From Its Fast-Growing Mobile Offerings
Starbucks Corp. keeps adding digital caffeine to its mobile-payments and loyalty offerings built around a prepaid card. The Seattle-based coffee king on Thursday reported that 21% of its U.S. transactions were paid on the Starbucks mobile app in the quarter ended Dec. 27, up from 20% in the previous quarter …
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21 January
Visa Tweaks a Deadline, but Proceeds With PCI Compliance Plan for Small Merchants
In response to pleas from merchant acquirers, Visa Inc. this month modified a deadline in its program to get small merchants into compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, a program the leading payment card network announced to acquirers in October. The change affects the usage of qualified integrators …