News

March, 2013

• 14 March

  The FTC Warns of Fraud and Consumer Privacy Issues as Mobile Payments Gain Traction

  The Federal Trade Commission is becoming concerned that consumers who use the many emerging mobile-payments services won’t always be protected from fraud and privacy violations. In a staff report released this week entitled “Paper, Plastic or Mobile? An FTC Workshop on Mobile Payments,” the FTC lists a series of recommendations …
• 14 March

  New Data Show Consumers Once Again Are Willing To Pull Out Their Credit Cards

  Credit cards began staging a somewhat wobbly post-recession recovery in 2010 and 2011. But new figures from First Data Corp. and Visa Inc. indicate credit card charge volume is back to just about full health. In a mid-March investor presentation, Visa reported that U.S. credit card payment volume increased 11% …
• 12 March

  With No Argo-Style Rescue Coming, Bergeron Calls It Quits at VeriFone

    Dogged by seemingly unrelenting bad news that now includes possible violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran, leading point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. late Monday said its long-time chief executive officer Douglas G. Bergeron “is stepping down,” effective today. The company named its chairman, Richard McGinn, as interim chief …
• 11 March

  Eye on Digital Currency: Amazon Sellers Get Bitcoin Option; Hackers Steal Bitcoins

  BitPay Inc., a payment processor for digital Bitcoin payments, has integrated its services with Amazon.com Inc.’s Fulfillment-by-Amazon Web service. It’s the first move into large-scale e-commerce for companies wishing to accept Bitcoin payments over the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network, Atlanta-based BitPay says. Fulfillment-by-Amazon (FBA) allows a seller with inventory in Amazon’s …
• 8 March

  Duffy Led Chase Paymentech Through Industry and Ownership Changes

  Mike Duffy, president and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Paymentech merchant-acquiring subsidiary and one of the acquiring industry’s most prominent figures, died Thursday after a long illness. “It is difficult to put into words how much Mike will be missed,” said Gordon Smith, chief executive of Chase …
• 7 March

  How Facebook, White Labeling and Loyalty Technology Helped LevelUp Reach a User Milestone

  Using a three-pronged technology play that includes enabling consumers to share merchant offers through social media, Boston-based SCVNGR Inc.’s mobile-payments unit LevelUp has added 500,000 new consumer users in just the past four months, bringing its total user base to 1 million. The strategy is part of a larger plan …
• 6 March

  EMV Chips Get Credit for a Big Drop in Canadian Debit Card Skimming Fraud

  With the U.S. embarking on its gradual implementation of EMV chip card technology beginning this year, recent news from Canada’s national debit network should be encouraging. Introduction of EMV—the Europay-MasterCard-Visa standard—in Canada has helped reduce debit card fraud losses on Interac cards due to skimming to the lowest level since …
• 5 March

  The Fed Takes a Pass on Proposing Changes to Its Durbin Debit Card Regs

  The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday released another report on debit card revenues and expenses and says it does not plan to propose changes to its controversial debit regulations implementing the Durbin Amendment in 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act. Dodd-Frank requires the Fed to report on the debit card market every two …
• 5 March

  VeriFone Outlines a Recovery Plan for Its ‘Self-Inflicted’ Wounds

    Heads look like they’re going to roll at troubled point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. as it begins what chief executive Douglas Bergeron calls a “rebuilding year” in the wake of missteps that contributed to lower-than-expected revenues. Bergeron told stock analysts Tuesday that the company has initiated “an exhaustive …
• 4 March

  Illinois Cites Square and NetSpend for Not Having Money-Transmitter Licenses

  A spate of cease-and-desist orders by the state of Illinois against unlicensed money transmitters has ensnared eight payments companies, including such prominent ones as Square Inc. and NetSpending Holdings Inc. An agency quietly issued orders against both firms in January that seemingly would prevent them from doing business in the …