U.S.-based cross-border payments provider dLocal said it has added three major Chinese payment systems—WeChat Pay, AliPay, and UnionPay—to its platform. The three account for more than 70% of the Chinese market, according to dLocal. In related news, Flywire Corp., which recently expanded its cross-border payments business to include business-to business transfers, announced it has added …
Read More »Rebounding From 2016’s Fourth Quarter, the ACH Racks up a Robust 6.9% Growth Rate
As the nation’s automated clearing house network introduces faster payments, it’s also racking up steady increases in transaction volume. The system processed approximately 5.35 billion payments in the first quarter, notching nearly 7% growth over the first quarter of last year and rebounding smartly from a tepid 3.7% growth rate …
Read More »More Banks Apparently Serving Marijuana Businesses, but Actual Count Could be Hazy
A recent report from the U.S. Department of The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows a sizable increase in the number of banks and credit unions providing financial services to legal marijuana businesses. The numbers might not tell the whole story, however. FinCEN’s latest Marijuana Banking Update, for the …
Read More »MRC Notes E-Commerce Fraud Arrests and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• The National Retail Federation announced that senior vice president and general counsel Mallory Duncan plans to retire at the end of August. Duncan joined the trade group in 1994 as general counsel and is a staunch advocate for merchants’ interests on payments issues. He plans to consult on payments and …
Read More »GlobalOnePay Expands UnionPay Service and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• Payment technology provider VeriFone Systems Inc. said it has integrated with the AirportConnect Common Use Payment Service from SITA, the big information-technology and communications specialist serving the air-transport industry, to bring electronic payment acceptance for multiple airlines and ground handlers at airport check-in desks, kiosks and bag drops via a …
Read More »Hackers Find Fertile Ground in North America and in Stores, Trustwave Reports
By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews North America remains by far the source of most data breaches investigated by Trustwave Holdings Inc., a big security-services and technology provider that operates worldwide, and the retail industry takes the lead in breaches despite the coming of EMV chip card payments to the U.S. Those are …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Is Open Banking the Beginning of the End for Payment Networks?
By Rick Oglesby and Brad Margol A 2015 European Parliament regulation, EU2015/751, caps the fees that a European cardholder’s bank may charge a merchant’s bank (interchange fees) at 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards. Also passed in 2015, and ramping up to full effect in January of …
Read More »With Its Deal for Whole Foods, Amazon Could Usher in Seismic Change for the Checkout
By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews If Amazon.com Inc.’s $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. closes later this year as expected, it could set the stage for a radical redefinition not just of in-store payments, but of the checkout experience itself, observers say. The deal, which Amazon announced late last …
Read More »As SIM-Swapping Fuels Account Takeovers, Payfone Patents Tech to Fight It
Consumers may not realize it, but their mobile phone is a gateway for criminals to take over their bank accounts. In a fast-growing scam known as SIM swapping, criminals transfer the phone number associated with a consumer’s mobile phone to the SIM card embedded in a mobile phone in their …
Read More »Visa, Mastercard Reach Surcharging Settlement in Canada
Canadian merchants that accept Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. credit cards soon will be able to add a surcharge to some transactions following a settlement reached this week. The settlement, which stems from a 2011 class-action lawsuit against Visa, Mastercard, and a number of card-issuing banks alleging excessive fees, calls …
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