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ViVOtech Inc., the Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of contactless point-of-sale card readers and mobile-wallet applications, is raising $20 million in its third round of venture-capital funding. The lead investor in this latest round announced this week is none other than First Data Corp., the No. 1 payment-card processor. ViVOtech, First …
Read More »Visa Hopes ‘payWave’ Will Leverage Contactless Adoption Trends
Reversing a marketing decision it made two years ago, Visa USA has attached a brand name to its contactless-payment platform. The name, payWave, will identify Visa's contactless technology around the world, serving the same function as MasterCard Worldwide's PayPass and American Express Co.'s ExpressPay contactless brands. Although the bank card …
Read More »FDC’s Authentication Play Sets It up for Contactless And M-Commerce
First Data Corp. this week captured big headlines with its $29 billion plan to go private (Digital Transactions News, April 2), but another development at the company could also have a significant long-term impact on the electronic-transactions business. The big processor late last month reported it has licensed patents from …
Read More »Tight Deadline for New Effort to Standardize Mobile Payments
Two organizations that serve major U.S. banks are studying diverse mobile-payments projects around the world and hope to issue within the next 60 days recommendations for financial institutions to follow in this country. The effort, spearheaded by representatives of The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC and the Financial Services Technology …
Read More »Discover Taps Motorola’s M-Wallet for Two-City Mobile Test with NFC
Discover Financial Services LLC on Tuesday reported that it would use Motorola Inc.'s M-Wallet technology for a test of contactless payments and account management using cellular phones. The pilot not only represents another step by Discover on its road to network-wide contactless payments, but it's also significant for Motorola, which …
Read More »Visa Hopes Its New Platform Will Speed M-Commerce Trials
Visa USA has signed up an undisclosed number of member financial institutions to use a new m-commerce technology platform the card network announced this week that ties together a wide range of functions, including contactless payment, over-the-air personalization (OTA), couponing, mobile banking, Internet payment, and person-to-person (P2P) funds transfers. A …
Read More »With Contactless, It’s Faster Payments That Draw Retailers the Most
The primary reason contactless payments are gaining favor with merchants has to do with speedier transactions and other point-of-sale efficiencies, while retailers installing or planning to install the technology show little concern about its security, according to a recent survey of retail companies. Some 58% of 160 respondents to the …
Read More »More Vending Machines, Plus Toll Road, Taking Contactless Payments
MasterCard Worldwide and USA Technologies Inc., which have been working together to equip vending machines to accept card payments, including contactless transactions, have announced the first deployments in a planned 5,000-machine rollout. The two companies also said they are installing gear on the Ohio Turnpike to accept contactless tokens for …
Read More »Citi’s New York NFC Pilot First Open Test in U.S. Backed by Major Issuer
The latest U.S. trial of contactless payment involving mobile phones and near-field communication technology (NFC), set to begin Jan. 10 in New York City, will combine key elements of the two other U.S. pilots mounted so far, and represents the first in which users can access credit cards issued by …
Read More »Discover Moves Closer to Contactless, But Stays Mum on Plans
Morgan Stanley's Discover Financial Services LLC payment network on Tuesday announced its certification of a contactless card reader from On Track Innovations Ltd., Discover's second such announcement in three months. But Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover still hasn't revealed its larger contactless plans. “There's nothing we can talk about right now,” a …
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