Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The PCI Security Standards Council on Wednesday published guidance on how merchants can accept card payments through smart phones and tablet computers while protecting sensitive cardholder data. The guidelines, however, do not bring to an end an 18-month-old freeze the council has imposed on approvals of software applications for mobile …
May, 2012
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15 May
Weeks Away from Launch, Isis Announces Its First Batch of Merchants
For months, the carrier-backed Isis mobile-payments initiative could boast just one accepting merchant, the Utah Transit Authority in Salt Lake City, one of two cities it plans to launch its service in this summer. That changed on Tuesday with the announcement that Isis has signed some 50 retail companies both …
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15 May
In Wake of FBI Report, Bitcoin Backer Says Benefits Outweigh Risk of Criminal Use
A Federal Bureau of Investigation report warning that criminals could use the electronic currency Bitcoin for money laundering and other illicit activities does not reflect the majority of activities for which the currency is actually used, a Bitcoin developer tells Digital Transactions. “Asking Bitcoin if they have a response to …
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14 May
Errors Plaguing Online Bill-Payment ‘Sausage Factory’ Total $720 Million in Costs
Those missing account numbers or little typos consumers make when paying bills can cost billers and others in the payments chain big bucks to fix. A recent study for automated clearing house governing body NACHA pegs the annual cost of such exception processing at about $720 million. More bad news: …
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10 May
Veridian Will Be First Institution to Switch on Dwolla’s Real-Time Transfer System
Dwolla Corp. announced this week that Veridian Credit Union, Waterloo, Iowa, will be the first financial institution to use a system for real-time funds transfer that Dwolla has been working on for months and testing since earlier this year. A Dwolla spokesman says more financial institutions around the country are …
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10 May
Durbin Supports Retailers Seeking Revamped Debit Regulations
U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, author of the now-famous amendment bearing his name that upended the debit card industry, made a figurative trip to court this week to show his support for retailers challenging the Federal Reserve Board’s final rule implementing his provision in 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act. In a friend of …
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9 May
Major Merchant Backing, with Rewards, Helps Fuel Surge in ACH-Based Debit
An obscure transaction code used by the automated clearing house network for debit card payments is surging as major merchants adopt the payment method and offer significant rewards to customers who use it. The POS code, which refers to ACH debit entries initiated at an electronic terminal, accounted for 4.59 …
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8 May
Late to the Wallet Wars, MasterCard Unveils a Service It Touts As Open, Flexible
Nearly a year after major U.S. rivals introduced mobile wallets, MasterCard Inc. officially entered the market on Monday with a service that aims to trump competing products by being open to a wide range of payment brands and by offering tools that can let third parties develop their own digital …
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7 May
Visa Doubles Floor Limit for Credit And Debit at Grocery, Discount Stores
Visa Inc. in October will double the current $25 purchase limit in its Visa Easy Payment Service to $50 under which no signature or PIN entry will be required for credit and debit card transactions at grocery and discount stores. The network also is changing some chargeback procedures that it says will …
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6 May
Big-Box Retailers Like Wal-Mart Remain Wary of Network EMV Plans
There’s no federal edict to replace fraud-prone magnetic-stripe credit and debit cards with the more secure EMV chip card, but the payment card networks have unveiled various plans in the past year to encourage U.S card issuers, merchant acquirers, and merchants to board the EMV train. Exactly how a U.S. …