Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Merchant acquirer TransFirst Inc. has a new owner. Private-equity firm Vista Equity Partners, San Francisco, is buying Hauppauge, N.Y.-based TransFirst for an undisclosed amount, TransFirst announced Monday. This summer, TransFirst, which has more than 200,000 merchants, had planned a partial initial public offering with its current owner, Welsh, Carson, Anderson …
October, 2014
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10 October
COMMENTARY: How History Is Repeating Itself With Apple Pay
If you are an issuer of Visa or MasterCard, your deadline for participating in the Apple Pay service set to debut later this month has already passed. It was Tuesday, and issuers didn’t have much time to think about it (let alone perform a technical due diligence or negotiate terms). …
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9 October
First Data Chief Bisignano Hails New Spirit of Innovation, Asks To Be ‘Graded’
A humble Frank Bisignano told top non-bank acquirer executives Thursday that his company, processing giant First Data Corp., wasn’t “always good” at listening to its clients and asked the audience to hold him “personally accountable” for the company’s performance in the coming year. Bisignano, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. …
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9 October
U.S. Mobile Payments Forecasted to Reach $3.5 Billion in 2014
Making a mobile payment is not commonplace yet, but the trend is heading that way, at least if a forecast from research firm eMarketer Inc. holds true. Mobile payments in the United States in 2014 are predicted to reach $3.5 billion, more than double the 2013 figure of $1.59 …
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8 October
Heartland CEO Predicts Apple Pay Will Force MCX To Abandon Mobile-Wallet Exclusivity
Never one to mince words, Bob Carr, chief executive of the big merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc., predicts that demand for Apple Inc.’s new Apple Pay mobile-payment service will force the retailer-controlled Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) to abandon a policy of requiring its members to accept only MCX’s CurrentC …
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8 October
Clover Adding Apple Pay Contactless And In-App Capabilities to Its POS System
Clover Network Inc., maker of the Clover tablet-based point-of-sale system, will be ready to accept Apple Pay contactless payment and in-app transactions when the scheme is released some time this month. That’s the word from Leonard Speiser, Clover co-founder and president. The Clover POS system will be able to …
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8 October
Discover Exec Warns Top ISO Execs They Face Loss of Relevance in Wake of Apps
The arrival of technology companies and other new players in the payments business has left merchant processors scratching their heads over how to work with these emerging brands. Companies like Apple Inc., which has the potential to change both consumer and merchant behavior, have sent independent sales organizations scrambling to …
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7 October
Boku Emboldens Mobile Carrier Billing Position With mopay Acquisition
San Francisco-based Boku Inc. has bought mopay Inc., bolstering its position among carrier billers, Boku announced Tuesday. Germany-based mopay, with a U.S. office in Palo Alto, Calif., says it processes more than 5 million monthly transactions and works with more than 400 mobile operators. Boku has built connections to …
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7 October
Warning: The EMV Chip Card Conversion Will Be Slow and Fraught With Peril
The conversion of U.S. payment cards from the aging magnetic stripe to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa chip card standard will hardly be a seamless transition. That’s the word from a payments researcher and Canadian retail experts who spoke on a panel at a payments conference Tuesday near Chicago. The warnings came a …
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3 October
Separation from PayPal Will Likely Free eBay to Add Wider Range of New Payments
One implication of the breakup of PayPal Inc. and its parent company eBay Inc., announced by eBay earlier this week and planned for next year, is that eBay will likely be free to add a slew of alternative-payment methods for sellers to accept on its online marketplaces. For years, eBay …