Smart Cards

• China-based UnionPay International says more than 41 million merchants and more than 2 million ATMs in 160 countries and regions now accept its UnionPay card, as do 10-million-plus Web-based merchants. More than 80% of U.S. merchants accept the card, the company says. • Point-of-sale terminal maker Equinox Payments said …

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s North American revenues plunged 30% in the quarter ending Jan. 31 as small and mid-size businesses slowed purchases of VeriFone EMV chip card point-of-sale terminals. But Wall Street took it in stride, and company executives stressed new growth opportunities when they reviewed the leading U.S.-based terminal maker’s …

As the U.S. payments industry continues its massive migration to EMV, issues here and there, such as payment cards being left behind in ATMs, pop up. About six months after INTRUST Bank completed its ATM EMV conversion a year ago, the problem of unrecovered cards started, says Joe Morin, ATM …

Payment card maker CPI Card Group Inc. says it will focus on small and mid-size issuers migrating from magnetic stripe cards to cards bearing an EMV chip in 2017 as it contends with a saturating market for the advanced cards. As larger banks and credit unions complete their migration programs, …

In the February, 2017, issue of Digital Transactions, Steve Mott argues that the U.S. EMV migration was a misguided, poorly planned, and poorly executed effort. In his article, “The Great EMV Hangover,” he considers the migration to be a failure, writing, “As 2016 wound to a close, nothing short of …

The former EMV prom that’s turned into the date from hell for some payments-industry vendors continued for point-of-sale terminal maker and e-commerce services provider Ingenico Group SA in the fourth quarter. The France-based firm that has major operations in Canada and the United States reported last week that its North …

• Royal Dutch Shell plc said it is finalizing the deployment of EMV-compliant point-of-sale terminals for inside use at more than 11,000 of its U.S. locations. Currently, almost 80% of the locations are EMV-compliant, with the rest expected this spring. As the inside-the-store project is completed, the petroleum company will shift …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews The lingering impact of some retailers’ slow conversion to EMV chip card acceptance continued to plague prepaid card services provider Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. in the fourth quarter. Blackhawk reported late Wednesday that revenues fell short of its expectations in part because of a “continued EMV headwind” …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Merchant-services provider Cayan released a semi-integrated mobile-payment device that accepts EMV chip card payments, the Boston-based company announced Tuesday. Dubbed Genius Handheld, the device enables clerks to accept multiple forms of payment while standing in a store aisle or at a popup location to shorten checkout queues. …

• Payment gateway USAePay launched a browser-based EMV application the enables merchants to accept credit and debit chip card payments. • Pizza Inn has launched a rewards app offering points to customers who order through the company’s Web site. The app was developed by marketing-services firm Punchh. • Sweden-based e-commerce-payments provider Klarna said it is buying …