News

September, 2015

• 21 September

  With EMV’s Big Date Just 10 Days off, Consumers Say They’re Not Ready for It

  The three-legged stool of merchants, payments companies, and consumers necessary to enable EMV chip card acceptance may be a little wobbly in the early going if the results of a new consumer survey are any indication. Fifty-nine percent of consumers say they are not ready for EMV, finds a survey …
• 21 September

  With Its Spree Commerce Buy, First Data Aims To Bolster Its Online Tech Foundations

  Payment processor First Data Corp. has acquired Spree Commerce, a provider of open-source software for 45,000 e-commerce storefronts. The addition of Bethesda, Md.-based Spree could bolster First Data as it competes with processors and tech providers for more business in the fast-growing world of online retailing. “Spree is at the …
• 18 September

  As Criminals Redouble Their Efforts, Merchants Sustain an Eye-Popping Jump in Fraud

  Merchants contend with fraud all the time, but the 2015 edition of the LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud study has found that their fraud costs are tallying 1.32% of revenue in 2015, a whopping 94% increase from the 0.68% rate in 2014. All categories of merchants in the LexisNexis Risk …
• 18 September

  Only 27% of Merchants Are EMV Ready, but a Surge May Be Coming

  Expectations of easily getting merchants ready to accept EMV credit and debit cards appear to be misaligned with the reality of the terminalization program. That’s one finding from a survey released Thursday by The Strawhecker Group, an Omaha, Neb.-based payments consultancy. To accept EMV chip cards, merchants must have compatible …
• 17 September

  Card Aggregator Stratos Enlists Eastern Bank in Test

  Stratos Inc., developer of the Stratos card that consolidates multiple credit and debit cards into one device consumers carry in their wallets, says Boston-based Eastern Bank will test its partner program. Card aggregators, like Stratos, operate on the premise that U.S. consumers want an easier way to manage all of …
• 17 September

  In Its Early Going, Apple’s Watch Appears To Be Giving a Modest Lift to Apple Pay

  By Jim Daly Ask owners of Apple Inc.’s new Apple Watch what they like about their high-tech wearable, and they put notifications and Apple’s health-and-fitness monitoring app at the top of the list. Coming in at No. 7 of their likes is the Apple Pay mobile-payments service, according to new …
• 16 September

  Consumers Know EMV Is Coming, They’re Just Not Sure What It’s All About

  By Kevin Woodward Consumers know their credit and debit cards are changing, they’re just not sure exactly what is happening. That’s one of the findings from a survey released by payments provider Harbortouch. In the survey of 18,000 U.S. consumers, 89.4% said they were aware of the transition from magnetic …
• 16 September

  America: Visa’s Unlikely EMV Leader

  Americans like to say their country is No. 1. Now, according to Visa Inc., America is No. 1 in a most unlikely category: EMV chip cards. According to figures Visa released Tuesday, some 141.9 million EMV credit and debit Visa cards were in issue in the U.S. as of August, …
• 15 September

  A New EMV Resource for the Dawn of October 2015

      The dawn of October 2015 is decidedly near; the clock rapidly ticking. As the fraud liability shift approaches, many merchants will be asking their POS solutions providers what plans they have in place to support EMV®. So now the question for VARs becomes: are you ready to handle …
• 15 September

  With Macy’s on Board, PayPal’s Brick-And-Mortar POS Initiative Catches a Tailwind

  Leading online payments provider PayPal Holdings Inc. disclosed late Tuesday that the big department-store chain Macy’s Inc. would accept PayPal not only on its Web sites and on mobile devices but also in its stores. The announcement breathes new life into PayPal’s years-long effort to come to the physical point …