Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Visa Inc.’s pricing plans for merchant acquirers in the wake of the Durbin Amendment have generated controversy in the acquiring industry, and now they’re attracting scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice, the leading payment card network disclosed on Wednesday. Visa said in a regulatory filing that the DoJ’s Antitrust …
May, 2012
-
2 May
MasterCard Reports a Strong Quarter for Debit, Takes Issue with Fed’s Durbin Update
MasterCard Inc. on Wednesday posted continued strong growth in debit cards during the first quarter, including in fee revenue. The No. 2 U.S. card network also took issue with the findings of a Federal Reserve report released on Tuesday showing interchange for regulated card issuers has plunged since the Durbin …
-
1 May
New Fed Data Give a Glimpse of the Durbin Amendment’s Early Effects
The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday released data about banks’ debit card interchange income now that the Durbin Amendment is in effect. Not surprisingly, the numbers show that interchange for regulated card issuers plunged. The nation’s leading retailer trade group took the occasion to decry the Fed, even though merchants …
-
1 May
A ‘Hard Core’ of Check Users Likely to Resist Inducements to Convert to E-Payments
For years, the growth of electronic payments has been fueled by the conversion of check writers into card users at the point of sale, but now those days may be coming to an end. Research, as well as the experience of one major retail chain, indicates the check writers who …
April, 2012
-
30 April
Off to a Slow Start, a Database of Terminated ACH Originators Might Gain Traction Soon
One year after its creation, a database of merchants and processors that generate suspect automated clearing house transactions doesn’t have a whole lot of data yet. Backers of the Terminated Originator Database (TOD), however, expect the database to grow rapidly this year and next as word of the project spreads …
-
30 April
Microsoft, NACHA, And Others Outline Legal Tools Used to Disrupt Zeus Botnet
Microsoft Corp. used a trio of legal tools last month to raid an alleged cybercrime operation that had been using the infamous Zeus virus to steal funds and data from the financial-services industry, the software giant disclosed on Monday. The raids, which Microsoft and partner organizations first announced March 25, …
-
27 April
Most Acquirers Support EMV Programs, But April 2013 Deadline Has Them Nervous
The re-terminalization of the merchant point of sale to accept EMV chip cards could generate more than $6 billion in revenues for independent sales organizations and other merchant acquirers, but the changeover is fraught with competitive and operational risks, according to a new research report by Aite Group LLC. Aite …
-
26 April
Startup Spindle Launches RhinoPay for Vending And, Ultimately, P2P Transactions
The market for card-based vending machine purchases has hit some turbulence over the past year, but new competitor Spindle Inc. says the niche still has plenty of long-term opportunities. “I’m not at this point so worried about being different as adding competition,” says Bill Clark, president of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Spindle. …
-
25 April
Google Starts Selling a Wallet-Equipped Smart Phone Directly to Consumers
Google Inc. breathed a bit of new life into its struggling Google Wallet franchise on Tuesday with the announcement that it is releasing directly to the public a new Android-powered phone that features the Wallet app. The so-called unlocked device, a Nexus smart phone, will work on any carrier network …
-
25 April
Georgia Breaks Legal Ground With New Charter for Specialty Acquiring Banks
A little-noticed new Georgia law creates a new type of bank dedicated solely to merchant acquiring that could radically transform how the acquiring business works in the U.S. Enacted at the behest of Global Payments Inc., the big Atlanta-based merchant processor, the law enables a non-bank acquirer to own its …