With PayPal Holdings Inc. promoting its fast-growing Venmo peer-to-peer payments service and rumors that Apple Inc. is eyeing the business, P2P transfers are starting to take center stage in the consumer-payments business. And now a new survey indicates the service is growing in appeal to consumers for a variety of …
Read More »Despite Some Fourth-Quarter Improvements, Wall Street Punishes First Data
Leading payment processor First Data Corp. late Tuesday reported modest revenue and transaction growth in 2015’s fourth quarter, as well as better pre-tax profitability and an improved balance sheet in the wake of its October initial public offering, but investors still didn’t like what they saw. The Atlanta-based company’s stock …
Read More »The PCI Council Sets Security Rules for Token Service Providers as their Role Grows
With the coming of mobile payments and their attendant security issues expanding demand for so-called token service providers, the PCI Security Standards Council has issued rules intended to keep the tokenization environment safe. The Wakefield, Mass.-based PCI Council in December quietly released a 92-page document titled, “Additional Security Requirements and …
Read More »Eye on Branding: Vantiv Renames Mercury and Element; PayPal Debuts ‘New Money’ Campaign
Vantiv Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. are, separately, creating new looks for their brands. Vantiv, which bought integrated-payments specialist Mercury Payment Systems LLC in 2014 for $1.65 billion, is renaming Mercury and Element Payment Services, an integrated-payments provider it purchased in 2013, as a single unit called Vantiv Integrated Payments. This …
Read More »Eyeing the Market for ‘On-Demand’ ACH Transfers, Dwolla Launches Its Latest API
It’s common for consumers who use a recurring service to designate a credit or debit card that the service provider can charge each month. With the automated clearing house, this is much less common. Dwolla Inc. says that’s because it’s too difficult and time-consuming for most businesses to set up …
Read More »Eye on Acquirers: Charge Volumes and Processing Revenues Grow for Vantiv and Heartland
Two leading merchant acquirers, Vantiv Inc. and Heartland Payment Systems Inc., are reporting strong transaction growth in their most recent financials. Boosted in part by its first full year of owning Mercury Payment Systems, Symmes Township, Ohio-based Vantiv on Wednesday said its Merchant Services segment processed 19 billion transactions in 2015, …
Read More »Eye on Fraud: EMV Spurs Fraud Increase, Says Javelin; Landry’s Reports a POS System Breach
A new report finds that fraud activity is surging, while Landry’s Inc. says it has uncovered malware on its point-of-sale system and removed it. Identify fraud is on the rise, finds the 2016 Identity Fraud Study released Tuesday by Javelin Strategy & Research. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based research firm found that …
Read More »Longer Checkouts for EMV Don’t Seem To Be Fazing Consumers in the Early Going
When the U.S. rollout of EMV cards started in earnest last year, many experts predicted consumers would soon tire of the time-consuming chip-reading routine, putting pressure on the payments industry to usher in contactless EMV and more mobile wallets. But that’s not happening, at least not all that much and …
Read More »Most Shoppers Indifferent to Merchant Data Breaches, Survey Finds
Consumers seem to be very forgiving of retailers who experience data breaches, according to findings from a recent survey for the Merchant Acquirers’ Committee, a trade group of payment processors. Most customers resume shopping—and using a payment card—at a breached retailer within a few months, and among those that don’t …
Read More »A Venmo In-App Service And a First Data Deal Help Expand PayPal’s Merchant Reach
On Wednesday, PayPal Holdings Inc. made it clear it hasn’t given up on expanding its reach with merchants beyond processing e-commerce payments. The company announced a new in-app payments initiative for its popular Venmo peer-to-peer payments app, a move that follows a recent agreement with First Data Corp. that furthers …
Read More »