News

February, 2015

• 12 February

  When mPOS Goes Awry, Whom Do You Call? Payments Veteran Kahn Hopes It’s Boomtown

  Mobile point-of-sale systems have come a long way in a short time, but in one respect they may have grown up too fast. They may have outstripped the ability of merchants and merchant-service providers to provide the kind of constant and consistent support that’s necessary to keep the tablets humming. …
• 12 February

  AmEx Could Take an $82 Billion Charge-Volume Hit With Loss of U.S. Costco Card

  American Express Co. on Thursday disclosed that it will not renew its merchant-acceptance and cobranded credit card agreements with Costco Wholesale Corp. The card accounted for about $82 billion of AmEx’s worldwide charge volume last year. The possible loss of the warehouse club’s 16-year AmEx card program had been rumored …
• 11 February

  Retailers Rank Security As Top Concern, While More Than One-Third Plan to Add NFC

  Payments security is the top concern of retailers in 2015, finds a Boston Retail Partners report. This comes as retailers contend with increased scrutiny of their data-protection practices and a sweeping transformation of the U.S. payment card system. In the survey of more than 500 retailers, 63% cited payment security …
• 10 February

  With Its PayEase Acquisition, Burgeoning Mozido Enters China

  Financial and marketing services company Mozido Inc. now is serving China through its acquisition of PayEase Corp., a China-based payment processor. Announced today, the acquisition makes Austin, Texas-based Mozido the owner of one of 22 licensed payment-processing companies in China. PayEase, which is headquarter in Beijing, provides in-app mobile payments, …
• 10 February

  Americans Overwhelmingly Prefer Paper Bills, but Increasingly Pay Them Electronically

  More than 90% of Americans still prefer to receive paper bills, but a strong majority of them pay electronically, according to findings released Monday from a survey sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General. The three-month study of customer records from a major East Coast utility …
• 10 February

  A New Study Says More Than 30% of Big Merchants Are Not PCI-Compliant

  Fudging the numbers about their merchants’ compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) may be a common practice by merchant acquirers if findings from a new study about payment card data security are to be believed. The study by the Merchant Acquirers’ Committee, an association of more than …
• 10 February

  COMMENTARY: Ignore the Naysayers! Here’s Why Apple Pay Will Be a Winner

  Here’s a resolution that the payments industry should consider: Stop doubting market capabilities and start anticipating currents within the technological wave. With the unveiling of Apple Pay, naysayers are already coming out in full force. However, I’ve spent considerable time in the card-not-present environment, giving me a unique perspective on …
• 10 February

  First Data Reports First Profit in 29 Quarters Since Going Private

  Leading payment processor First Data Corp. late Tuesday reported its first quarterly profit since being taken private in a $29 billion leveraged buyout by investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in 2007. Net income wasn’t big, $11.8 million, but it beat the $123.1 million loss Atlanta-based First Data reported …
• 9 February

  It’s Quieter Than Starbucks, But Cumberland’s Mobile App Is Ringing up Results, Too

  Gasoline retailer Cumberland Farms, which operates nearly 600 stores in eight Northeastern states, is proving you don’t have to sell fancy coffee concoctions to generate impressive results with a mobile app. The program, which Cumberland calls SmartPay, enrolled 100,000 customers in the first 45 days after its 2013 launch—a response …
• 9 February

  Physical Stores Still Dominate Retail Despite Headlines on Mobile, Online Commerce

  In spite of all the hoopla about burgeoning e-commerce and mobile-commerce activity, consumers still prefer to shop inside a store, finds the “Total Retail: Retailers and the Age of Disruption” report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. Of the more than 1,000 U.S. consumers surveyed, only 27% said they shop online weekly. But, …