News

March, 2013

• 21 March

  Mobile-Payments Startup LevelUp Expands Its Footprint With a New Heartland Partnership

  LevelUp, the mobile-payments unit of Boston-based SCVNGR Inc., announced a partnership with the big merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. on Thursday that will dramatically expand its national reach with merchants and make its white-label mobile app more affordable to merchants wanting to increase their loyalty marketing. The agreement gives …
• 20 March

  Retailer Genesco Sues Visa To Recover $13 Million in Disputed PCI Fines

    Sports apparel and accessories retailer Genesco Inc. has gone to court to challenge  $13.3 million in fines levied by Visa Inc. for alleged violations of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard. Genesco’s may be the first retailer lawsuit filed against a card network over the PCI security standards, according …
• 20 March

  EFT Networks and Discover Strike a Deal That Could Resolve a Chip Card Controversy

    With help from Discover Financial Services, regional electronic funds transfer networks this week took a major step toward ending a dilemma over how merchants can route PIN-debit transactions made on chip cards through EFT networks and still meet the Durbin Amendment’s transaction-routing requirements. Previously, the main routes available for …
• 18 March

  VeriFone Overhauls Its Management Team as It Enters the Post-Bergeron Era

  Troubled point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. on Monday announced sweeping changes in its management ranks, appointing four new people to top positions a week after long-time chief executive Douglas Bergeron resigned. One of the key appointments is Eliezer Yanay, who headed San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone’s global research and development, …
• 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% …
• 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 …
• 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 …