Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Discover Financial Services is about to team up with Google Inc. to bring the Google Wallet to the physical point of sale with a Discover-branded plastic card, according to the latest rumor sweeping Silicon Valley. Discover recently began issuing cards for PayPal Inc., so if the Google rumor proves true, …
November, 2012
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1 November
Visa Reports Growth in Credit, Less Bleeding in Debit, Progress for Its V.me Wallet
Visa Inc. on Wednesday reported brisk growth in its credit business and a stabilizing debit market while touting progress for its new digital wallet, V.me. Overall, the results released for Visa’s fourth quarter show the world’s biggest payments network is wising up about how to cope with a new, more …
October, 2012
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31 October
Acquiring Giant Vantiv Agrees to Buy Litle & Co. for $361 Million
In a move that will greatly expand its business in card-not-present transaction processing, merchant processor Vantiv Inc. announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Lowell, Mass.-based Litle & Co. for $361 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close later this year and will result in 11-year-old …
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31 October
MasterCard Reports Debit Up, Credit Growth So-So, And a Tie-Up with Square
New PIN-debit business as a result of the Durbin Amendment continued to lift MasterCard Inc.’s transaction volume in the third quarter, though the No. 2 card network’s top executives warned on Wednesday that the big growth is likely to slow down. Meanwhile, MasterCard is turning its attention to juicing up …
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30 October
Mobile-Payments Pioneer Obopay Puts Itself on the Block As Wallet Trend Heats up
Obopay Inc., a pioneer in mobile payments whose profile fell as mobile wallets gained momentum, has put itself up for sale, according to sources familiar with the matter. Details about the sale remain sketchy, including possible valuations and the identity of bidders, but sources say the 7-year-old company and its …
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30 October
A Parking Processor Gets into a Political Fender-Bender with Sen. Durbin
A 13-cent fee increase from Parkmobile USA Inc., a specialty payments processor for parking providers and municipalities, drew heavy fire last week from U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, chief sponsor of the Durbin Amendment in 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act that imposed price controls on most debit card transactions. The brouhaha is the …
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26 October
MCX Merchants Stress Unity, Commitment to Homegrown Mobile Payments
The retailers behind the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) mobile-payments initiative are united in backing the effort and remain committed to supporting only MCX for mobile payments in their stores, retail executives said during a panel discussion this week. While details surrounding how customers will use the yet-to-be-launched MCX and how …
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25 October
Credit Card Settlement Judge Says He Sees Grounds for Preliminary Approval of Pact
The judge overseeing the mammoth litigation involving credit card interchange said on Wednesday the controversial proposed settlement appears to meet the requirements for preliminary approval. Judge John Gleeson, however, also said he would hear merchants’ objections to the settlement struck by lawyers for the merchant plaintiffs and the payment card …
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24 October
Barnes & Noble Reports Fraudsters Compromised PIN Pads at 63 Stores
Calling it a “sophisticated criminal effort,” Barnes & Noble Inc. on Wednesday reported tampering occurred on PIN pads at 63 of its stores in nine states. The company on Sept. 14 disconnected every PIN pad in all of its nearly 700 stores but indicated that in addition to personal identification …
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22 October
Google Mobile Chief Bedier Issues a Teaser About a New Wallet Version to Come Soon
Google Inc. will launch yet another new version of its mobile wallet in about a month, Google’s top executive for the product said on Monday. The latest version, which Osama Bedier, vice president of Google Wallet and payments, referred to as “the 2.0 version” of the product, comes just short …