News

January, 2015

• 21 January

  A Decentralized Payments System May Work Against a Smooth U.S. EMV Migration

  The United States with its several thousand credit and debit card issuers and more than a dozen payment networks presents a stiff challenge to the card industry as it tries to convert from magnetic-stripe stripe cards to Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards, two industry veterans told a group of independent sales …
• 20 January

  As New-Merchant Pricing Slips ‘Dramatically,’ Squeeze on Acquirers Ratchets up

  Price compression in the merchant-acquiring business is nothing new, but research from First Annapolis Consulting shows it may be much more intense than previously thought. “The price point that an acquirer must present to sign a new merchant is falling and falling dramatically in the very segments most acquirers would …
• 20 January

  Supreme Court Rejects Petition, Dealing Merchants Another Defeat on Debit Cards

  Merchants battling debit card pricing and routing rules suffered another defeat on Tuesday. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition from a merchant group seeking to have the high court hear its arguments against Federal Reserve rules regulating debit card interchange and transaction routing. The move leaves intact a lower-court …
• 20 January

  Seeking an ‘Integrated Mobile Offer,’ Ingenico Completes Takeover of Roam Data

  Point-of-sale terminal maker Ingenico Group now owns all of Roam Data, a mobile POS company it first invested in in 2009. France-based Ingenico says the Roam brand will continue to be used on products, but the company name will be wrapped up into Ingenico. “With 100% of Roam, we will …
• 16 January

  Eye on Apple: Watch’s PIN Protection; Grocer Adds Apple Pay at Checkout

  Apple Inc.’s much anticipated Watch, which includes a near-field communication (NFC) chip for making contactless payments, will be protected by a four-digit PIN, reports Australian Web site CSO. Apple Watch users will need to enter the passcode to use Apple Pay on the watch, the site says. It remains unclear …
• 16 January

  USA Technologies Reaches Accord With MasterCard on Small-Ticket Debit Interchange

  By Jim Daly After a hiatus of more than three years, vending machines that get payment services through USA Technologies Inc. will soon be accepting MasterCard Inc.’s debit cards again as the result of an agreement between the two companies that USA Technologies announced Friday. Under the three-year agreement, “MasterCard …
• 16 January

  With a Wary Eye on Apple Pay, Google Reported to Be in Talks to Buy Softcard

  Major tech and payments companies are reportedly showing an interest in acquiring Softcard, the troubled mobile-payments joint venture owned by three of the nation’s biggest mobile operators. Google Inc. is in “exclusive” talks with the company and has offered at least $50 million for it, The Wall Street Journal reported …
• 15 January

  With ‘Smart Band,’ Wirecard Combines Wearables With Host Card Emulation

  The number of anticipated wearable devices that can be used as payment devices has increased by one with the debut of the Wirecard Smart Band from processor Wirecard AG. Munich, Germany-based Wirecard is using host card emulation, a variant of near-field communication, in its devices. With HCE, banks and other …
• 15 January

  They May Be Extortionists, But Ransomware Developers Are Alert to Victims’ Struggles

  Some cybercrooks are nothing if not accommodating. A new version of the so-called ransomware called CyberWall, for example, has made it easier for victims to make payments and get their data back. CyberWall 3.0, released early this week, includes new gateways for reaching the decryption site. The ransom note file …
• 14 January

  PayPal Here Reader Adds Windows 8.1 Support, With App Integration Later This Month

  PayPal Inc. updated its reader for its PayPal Here mobile point-of-sale service with Windows 8.1 support and separately plans to release software to integrate reader support into iOS and Android apps. Introduced in 2012, PayPal Here enables merchants to use their smart phones and tablets as payment-acceptance devices. The inclusion …