News

July, 2015

• 21 July

  Apple Pay To Hit 1.5 Million U.S. Acceptance Locations by Year’s End, Apple’s CEO Says

  Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay mobile-payments service will soon more than double the 700,000 acceptance locations it had this spring, according to figures the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and smart-phone maker released Tuesday. “We’re on track for Apple Pay acceptance at over 1.5 million U.S. locations by the end of 2015,” Apple chief …
• 20 July

  First Data Files for Its Long-Awaited IPO, Seeks To Pay Down Debt

  First Data Corp. filed a registration statement Monday for an initial public stock offering, a long-anticipated move that the highly leveraged payment processor expects will help reduce its debt. The statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission does not say how many shares First Data plans to issue or …
• 20 July

  Biometrics Poised To Become Predominant Mobile-Commerce Authentication Method: Report

    Biometrics will be the secure authentication mechanism for 65% of all mobile-commerce transactions in five years. That’s the forecast from Acuity Marketing Intelligence, a Denver-based research firm, in its “The Global Biometrics and Mobility Report: The Convergence of Commerce and Privacy” report released last week. The forecast says this will …
• 20 July

  Investors Give a Thumbs Up to the Newly Independent PayPal

  After a 13-year absence, online-payments provider PayPal Holdings Inc. debuted Monday morning on the Nasdaq Stock Market as an independent company following its spin-off Friday from parent eBay Inc. Investors looking for growth opportunities in payments liked what they saw, pushing PayPal’s price up approximately 6% and valuing the company …
• 17 July

  In the Face of Increasing Regulation, the ETA Boosts Its Washington Presence

  The Electronic Transactions Association, the national merchant-acquiring trade group, is ramping up its presence on Capitol Hill to stem the increasing regulation of the payments industry. The Washington, D.C.-based ETA recently spawned the creation of so-called payments caucuses in both the Senate and House of Representatives, chief executive Jason Oxman …
• 17 July

  MWAA Wrapup: Where ISOs Should Butter Their Bread; The Fed on Faster Payments

  The annual MidWest Acquirers Conference concluded Thursday in Chicago with a series of sessions addressing several hot-button payments issues. Here’s a rundown of the more salient remarks: —Whither the independent sales organization? With the fundamentals of the acquiring business rapidly turning towards mobile and cloud-based technology, ISOs are finding themselves …
• 16 July

  A China Gambit And Boom in Studying Abroad Open Big Opportunities for peerTransfer

  Students from outside the United States are flooding the country to attend colleges, universities, even secondary schools, and that presents a payments problem for them and their families. Wire transfers, the typical way for foreigners to pay tuition and other fees, are cumbersome and expensive. Enter peerTransfer Corp., a 4-year-old …
• 16 July

  Schulman Sets Goal to Boost Usage As PayPal Swallows Xoom, Expands One Touch Checkout

  On the eve of his company’s separation from long-time parent eBay Inc., PayPal Inc.’s new chief executive on Thursday let it be known he intends to dramatically boost usage among PayPal’s 169 million active accounts by stressing single-touch checkouts and new capabilities like Xoom, the online-remittance service it is buying …
• 16 July

  Chastened ISO Execs Caution Colleagues on How To Avoid Regulators’ Ire

  Two independent sales organization executives who ran afoul of government regulators cautioned their industry colleagues Thursday on how to stay out of trouble. The warnings came during a session at the MidWest Acquirers Association (MWAA) annual conference in Chicago titled “You, Me and the FTC: Personal Stories From Being in …
• 15 July

  Eye on Prepaid: Users Want Universal Wallets, Plastic Gift Cards; InComm Adds Brands

  While doubts persist about how appealing mobile wallets really are for consumers, a majority—54%—would use a mobile wallet if it were accepted at all merchants. That’s one finding from a Blackhawk Engagement Solutions Inc. survey, released Tuesday, on shopper behavior. Blackhawk Engagement Solutions is a unit of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Blackhawk …