News

February, 2012

• 27 February

  Isis Announces Its First Issuers As It Readies for Two-City Pilot This Summer

  In a move that could indicate a thaw in the long cold war between banks and wireless carriers in the mobile-payments business, the carrier-controlled Isis venture on Monday announced a trio of major banks are the first to sign on as issuers on its platform. Indeed, with the Isis wallet …
• 27 February

  Square Tries To Hail a New York Cab Deal

  Merchant processor Square Inc. is seeking a piece of the booming payment card business in New York City taxicabs, a market that is currently the exclusive domain of VeriFone Systems Inc. and another company that provide TV content and card acceptance to 13,237 cabs. San Francisco-based Square is proposing to …
• 23 February

  In a Sneak Peek at Its Mobile Wallet, Isis Says Product Will Come with Preloaded Cash

  The Isis mobile wallet, set for release in two U.S. cities this summer, will feature a prepaid card with cash already loaded and a capability to “follow” participating merchants to receive coupons and other offers. The broad outlines of how the wallet will work were disclosed on Wednesday as Isis …
• 23 February

  Visa to Launch New Acquirer Fee in April That Could Run up to Big Numbers

    The bank card networks will introduce new fees for merchant acquirers in April, according to information obtained by Digital Transactions News. The most significant fee is Visa Inc.’s new Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF), a key component of a revamped pricing strategy the No. 1 payment card network announced …
• 23 February

  Boku Invades Point of Sale with a Mobile Wallet Aimed at Wireless Carriers

  With e-commerce kingpin PayPal Inc. having used mobile technology to move into processing for brick-and-mortar merchants, it was probably only a matter of time before others followed suit. The latest to join the parade is San Francisco-based mobile-payments provider Boku Inc., which on Thursday announced a platform that will let …
• 22 February

  Isis Shooting for 1,000 Merchants in Each of Two Test Cities When Launch Starts in July

  The Isis mobile-payments platform plans to go live at about 1,000 merchant locations in each of the two cities it has targeted for what it calls a “soft launch” this summer, according to officials with the company. While Isis will not identify the merchants it is talking to, it is …
• 22 February

  Threat of Identity Theft Stalks Users of Social Media and Smart Phones

  After bottoming out in 2010, identity fraud rose nearly 13% last year, according to new findings from Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin’s findings also associate two hallmarks of the tech-oriented early 21st Century, social networks and smart phones, with a higher risk of identity fraud. Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin surveyed 5,022 …
• 21 February

  Group Claims Consumers Don’t Expect Retailers to Pass on Durbin Savings

  The war of words between the payments industry on the one side and retailers on the other side continued this week when a lobbying group backed by big banks and payment card networks released survey results claiming that only a tiny fraction of consumers believe retailers are passing on their …
• 17 February

  Processor Execs Echo Merchant Sentiment in Favor of PINs for Chip Cards

  Some of the nation’s biggest merchants have been adamant for months that they prefer EMV payments with PINs, not signatures, and on Thursday they were joined in that sentiment by a panel of representatives from some of the country’s largest processors. In the face of tepid support, at best, for …
• 17 February

  The IRS Hears Merchants’ Pleas About Card Receipts, But Will Taxable Sales Go Unreported?

  Responding to pressure from retailers, the Internal Revenue Service this month announced that it would give merchants a pass on what merchants feared would be a new hassle when filling out their tax returns. The change will reduce the compliance burden on merchants, but it also could undercut the government’s …