News

May, 2015

• 6 May

  With Ripple’s Settlement, the Feds Send a Message to Cryptocurrency Providers

  By Jim Daly The federal government sent a message Tuesday that the new virtual-currency providers are subject to the same regulations as long-established money-transfer firms when it announced that Ripple Labs Inc. would pay a $700,000 civil penalty and take remedial actions in lieu of criminal prosecution. The announcements came …
• 6 May

  Western Union Says Reports of Possible MoneyGram Buyout ‘Are Not Accurate’

  By Jim Daly Wire-transfer market leader The Western Union Co. issued a brief statement early Wednesday afternoon saying reports that it is in early talks to buy rival MoneyGram International Inc. “are not accurate.” The statement appeared to quickly deflate the two companies’ stock prices, especially MoneyGram’s, which had soared …
• 5 May

  Forecast Indicates 800 Million U.S. Cards Could Have EMV Chips by Year’s End

  By Jim Daly U.S. credit and debit card issuers will have about 150 million more EMV chip cards in circulation by year’s end than predicted last summer, according to the latest forecast from an industry group promoting the conversion of U.S. card payments to smart cards. The Payments Security Task …
• 4 May

  Research Shows How Durbin Torpedoed Visa And MasterCard’s PIN Debit Traffic

  By John Stewart The Durbin Amendment’s transaction-routing requirements, which have been in effect now for three years, are widely thought to have benefited merchants by increasing competition for debit card traffic. But PIN debit networks that aren’t owned by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. were expected to benefit as well …
• 4 May

  Execs’ Confidence in the Security of New Payments Systems Runs Low: Survey

  Confidence in the security of new payments systems is not high among businesses executives, finds the “Data Security in the Evolving Payments Ecosystem” report released Monday by the Ponemon Institute LLC. In the report, commissioned by Experian, 36% of respondents said they are not confident about the security of a …
• 4 May

  First Data’s Finances Continue To Brighten as New Clover POS Products Debut

  Processing giant First Data Corp. didn’t manage to record a second consecutive profitable quarter, but its financial picture did continue to brighten. Simultaneously, First Data officially launched two new, smaller-footprint products in its Clover line of mobile point-of-sale technology. The Atlanta-based company on Monday announced it had taken a $112 …
• 1 May

  TMS Alters Agent Compensation Plan As Part of a Push to Leverage EMV And NFC

  Independent sales organization Total Merchant Services Inc. hopes a newly altered agent-compensation plan will result in more merchants using EMV-compatible point-of-sale terminals. The U.S. payment card industry is migrating to EMV chip cards, requiring that merchants use compatible terminals. As a way to motivate its sales agents and get more …
• 1 May

  Eye on Earnings: Western Union, MoneyGram Report Online Growth; Heartland Prospers

  By Jim Daly Leading wire-transfer providers The Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc. both reported big growth in their online businesses in the first quarter while merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. posted strong increases in charge volume. • They’re still a small portion of its overall business, but …
• 1 May

  Heartland Preps Merchants for EMV As CEO Carr Cites Small-Seller Challenges

  The message about EMV and its payment-processing benefits is not sinking in with smaller merchants. That’s the assessment from Heartland Payment Systems Inc.’s chief executive Robert O. Carr, who says Heartland is responding by offering all-in-one security technology that includes but goes beyond EMV. “Well, resonating would be an overstatement,” …

April, 2015

• 30 April

  Speedier Checkout Options Necessary for M-Commerce Growth, Report Says

  Improving online conversion rates, especially for mobile commerce, depends on providing many options for faster checkout experiences. That’s the assertion of the newly released “Mobile Commerce Forecast 2015-2018” from Mark Beccue Consulting Inc. Beccue predicts that global mobile-commerce payment volume will grow from $187.5 billion in 2014 to $744 billion …