News

April, 2014

• 21 April

  With Government Cracking Down, ISOs And Acquirers Turn to Automated Merchant Vetting

    Independent sales organizations and acquirers have long known the value of performing their due diligence when boarding new merchants. That’s become even more important as law enforcement turns to the payments industry to find merchants that run afoul of consumers and the law. That has put more pressure on …
• 17 April

  With Support from Visa And MasterCard, Host Card Emulation Lends New Momentum to NFC

  A less costly, software-based way to handle mobile transactions using near-field communication (NFC) technology is expected to begin fueling NFC payments later this year following the release of specifications from both MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. n Support from the two major international card networks comes as demand for HCE-based …
• 17 April

  In a Sudden About-Face, Wal-Mart Stops Gift Card Sales Through Gyft E-Card Service

  Less than a month after electronic gift card provider Gyft announced it was selling Wal-Mart Stores Inc. gift cards, they no longer are available. According to a report on Coindesk.com, a digital-currency news site, Gyft stopped offering Wal-Mart gift cards on April 13. Gyft provides electronic gift card services for …
• 17 April

  Euronet’s Money-Transfer Business Poised To Get a Big Lift From New Wal-Mart Deal

  It may be headquartered in Leawood, Kan., but payment-services provider Euronet Worldwide Inc. looks abroad for most of its revenues. Thanks to a new deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., however, Euronet’s Ria unit is about to become a major force in domestic wire transfers. Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart on Thursday unveiled …
• 16 April

  Shazam, Co-Op and CU24 License Visa’s Identifier for EMV Debit Card Transactions

  The Shazam Network on Wednesday reported that it had licensed Visa Inc.’s so-called common application identifier (AID), the third such announcement of a new Visa user in just over a week by a electronic funds transfer network. The additions of Shazam and credit-union networks Co-Op Financial Services and CU24 mean …
• 15 April

  In a Move Aimed at Aggregators And Small Sellers, Visa Tweaks FANF Fees Effective April 2015

  Visa Inc. has tweaked its controversial fixed acquirer network fee (FANF), with the changes scheduled to take effect 12 months from now, according to sources who have seen the changes. A bulletin Visa released last week and circulated to acquirers indicates the modifications to the 2-year-old FANF are aimed chiefly …
• 9 April

  End of Life for Microsoft XP Presents Opportunity for Tablet POS Vendors

  With Microsoft Corp. no longer supporting its Windows XP operating system, companies marketing tablet-based point-of-sale gear and software are hoping to garner more business from small and mid-sized businesses looking to replace POS systems that use the outmoded OS. As expected, computing giant Microsoft ceased support for the 12-year-old XP …
• 9 April

  Mobile Commerce Efforts Vie for Acquirer Attention

    Selling merchants solely on the price and availability of a diverse set of payment processing methods won’t be enough in the next year or so as merchants increasingly turn to those who can help them grow their businesses. That’s the message proponents of mobile marketing and advertising services are …
• 8 April

  With MintChip for Sale, Can Digital Currencies Outlast S&H Green Stamps?

  In the wake of Bitcoin’s continuing problems with price volatility and unstable processors, the future of virtual currencies got even cloudier over the past week on news that the Royal Canadian Mint plans to sell its MintChip digital-currency system.   Rumors that MintChip was on the block had been circulating …
• 8 April

  NACHA’s New Same-Day Settlement Plan Draws Plenty of Questions From a Curious Crowd

  You might call it the first stop on a long road show looming for automated clearing house network oversight body NACHA’s new proposal for same-day settlement of ACH transactions. The particular stop was a packed session at NACHA’s annual payments conference on Tuesday, where executives from financial institutions and payments …