Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
MasterCard Inc.’s purchase Monday of C-Sam Inc., a mobile wallet technology company, boosts the card brand’s ability to provide mobile wallet services via a variety of payment methods, suggests a payment analyst. MasterCard paid an undisclosed amount for the Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based C-Sam, which began offering a mobile wallet …
February, 2014
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20 February
EMV Chip Cards and Revenue Streams Worry Independent ATM Deployers
The coming of Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards along with pressures on interchange and surcharge revenues are the top three concerns of U.S. ATM independent sales organizations and other retail deployers, according to survey results from the ATM Industry Association. The trade group’s annual survey of what’s on its members’ minds …
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20 February
Loop Mobile Wallet Debuts With Expectation of Near Ubiquitous Acceptance
Loop, a mobile wallet that uses a case or fob to generate its own contactless field to communicate with many payment terminals, has launched for the latest iPhone models. The brainchild of payments veterans George Wallner, founder of point-of-sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp., now Equinox Payments LLC, and Will …
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19 February
MasterCard, Visa Release Specs To Enable NFC Payments That Bypass the Secure Element
A form of near-field communication that does not require a secure element to complete a mobile payment now has the formal backing of card brands MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. Each of them announced today their respective contactless payment schemes support so-called host card emulation. Host card emulation got a …
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19 February
Capital One Buys Into Big Banks’ clearXchange P2P Payment Service
Card issuer and bank Capital One Financial Corp. has bought into the clearXchange person-to-person payment company, becoming the fourth owner. Founded in 2011, clearXchange was started by Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with the idea of leveraging a consumer’s existing relationship …
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18 February
Lamassu Claims First U.S. Bitcoin ATM Deployment with Installation in New Mexico
What is said to be the first ATM for Bitcoins in the United States was announced on Tuesday by Lamassu Inc., which made the machine. The ATM is installed in a cigar bar and lounge near the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, according to a news release from Lamassu. …
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18 February
Mobile Payments Growth Fuels Apriva’s $9.55 Billion in 2013 Transaction Volume
Mobile point-of-sale payment provider Apriva marked $9.55 billion in transactions through its payment gateway in 2013, a 17.3% increase from $8.14 billion in 2012, fueled by growth in mobile payment acceptance, cashless vending, and its gateway service. Mobile POS payments, in particular, saw exceptional growth in 2013 versus 2012. Apriva …
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14 February
The Feds Give a Cautious OK to Financial Services for Legal Marijuana Sellers
The gradual lowering of barriers that have kept legal marijuana merchants outside of the financial mainstream gained momentum Friday in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced new guidelines that signal federal approval for banks to serve legal marijuana …
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14 February
As Key Chip Deadline Looms, Doubts Emerge About Small Merchants’ Readiness
With Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. digging in their heels on a key chip card deadline, payments executives are expressing doubts that all U.S. small businesses will be ready. “The short answer is no,” says Henry Helgeson, chief executive of Merchant Warehouse, a Boston-based merchant processor. “We still have a …
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13 February
Square Snags Seven Whole Foods Stores in Another Move Up Market, Updates Square Cash
Consumers shopping at seven Whole Foods Market locations in Austin, Texas, New York City, Florida, and the San Francisco Bay area now can use their Square Wallet apps to pay for merchandise inside the stores. Whole Foods and Square Inc. are installing Square Register-equipped iPads on Square Stands inside these …