News

June, 2013

• 11 June

  Chirpify Widens Its Payments Reach As It Seeks Social-Commerce Data

  The move will allow Chirpify members to pay merchants and each other on the Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram social networks with American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa cards or with ACH transfers. It also propels the fledgling Portland, Ore.-based company further into the fast-growing world of social commerce, where companies …
• 10 June

  Green Dot To Take Over Walmart MoneyCard from Long-Time Issuer GE Capital

    Prepaid card program manager Green Dot Corp. will take over direct issuance of the Walmart MoneyCard prepaid card from General Electric Co.’s GE Capital Retail Bank under a deal Green Dot announced on Monday. The acquisition continues Pasadena, Calif.-based Green Dot’s effort to consolidate issuance of the prepaid card …
• 7 June

  Visa Looks To Usher in a New Era of Understanding with Merchants And Government

  Working closely with merchants, card issuers, and merchant acquirers to deliver more value through its brand at the point of sale, as opposed to enhancing revenues through price increases, is the road map Visa Inc. laid out Thursday at its Investor Day conference. “We don’t feel we have to raise …
• 6 June

  Incidents of Fraud Following a Data Breach Nearly Double in Two Years, Study Finds

    Just because a consumer’s financial information is compromised in a data breach does not mean the consumer will become a fraud victim. But the linkage between breaches and fraud is becoming much stronger, according to new data from Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin recently reviewed data from its annual …
• 5 June

  As Adoption Lags, Gartner Shaves 40% Off Its NFC-Based Mobile Payments Forecast

  Lackluster adoption has prompted a major research firm to make a sharp downward revision of its five-year projection for mobile payments based on near-field communication (NFC) technology. Worldwide NFC payments volume will reach $22 billion by 2016, down 40% from the original forecast released a year ago, says Gartner Inc. …
• 5 June

  VeriFone’s Interim CEO Eats Humble Pie As the Company Cleans Up a Bergeron-Era Mess

    VeriFone Systems Inc. interim chief executive officer Richard McGinn gave a blunt review of the company’s recent past Wednesday in the point-of-sale hardware and payment software provider’s first quarterly earnings call in memory without former chief executive Douglas Bergeron. McGinn said the company under-invested in research and development and …
• 4 June

  FDIC Signals Increased Non-Bank Scrutiny with Action Against Prepaid Program Manager

  In an action that appears to signal stepped-up scrutiny of non-bank prepaid card distributors by federal banking regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday announced it is fining Achieve Financial Services LLP $110,000 and forcing it to pay at least $1.1 million in restitution to consumers. The FDIC also …
• 4 June

  The FTC’s Breach Lawsuit Against Wyndham Becomes a Cybersecurity Flashpoint

  A formerly obscure lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission against Wyndham Worldwide Corp. and three subsidiaries in the wake of three data breaches at the hotel chain has become the flashpoint of a growing debate about the lack of a federal law governing data security on the Internet and …

May, 2013

• 30 May

  Visa’s U.S. EMV Card Count More Than Doubles in Nine Months, Albeit from a Tiny Base

  Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards have entered the classic phase of huge percentage growth from a very small base, according to new U.S. figures from Visa Inc. The leading network this week reported that American financial institutions had issued 3.5 million Visa-branded EMV cards as of March 31, an increase of …
• 29 May

  Head of Nascent Chase Merchant Services Sees Opportunity, Keeps Mum About Specifics

    The fledgling Chase Merchant Services operation may now have a boss, but that doesn’t mean the considerable industry curiosity about the JPMorgan Chase & Co. payments unit is going to be quenched any time soon. Chase officials, beginning with newly appointed CMS chief executive Mike Passilla, are playing it …