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Discover Financial Services disclosed Thursday that it will enhance its company-wide anti-money laundering procedures under an agreement it signed with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The agreement does not call for fines. The pact follows by 11 months a consent order that Discover’s Delaware-based bank subsidiary, Discover Bank, struck …
Read More »TSYS And Pax Look To Simplify EMV Compliance Within Merchants’ POS Systems
Migrating point-of-sale systems to the EMV chip card standard is as much a herculean task as swapping out countertop POS terminals. Now processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and POS-terminal maker Pax Technology Inc. say they have a product that can make the task easier for POS systems. The product, …
Read More »Payments Competition Will Likely Stunt Postal Service’s Search for New Revenue
The U.S. Postal Service could generate as much as $1.1 billion in additional annual revenue after five years if it expanded its existing payment services. That’s according to a report from the USPS Office of Inspector General. But a hotly competitive market could dampen those prospects, experts say. Struggling with …
Read More »Bitcoin-Accepting Sellers Point to Multiple Benefits From Early Experience
In a time when consumers are using multiple ways—smart phones, tablets, stores, and Web sites—to shop, they are also using new ways to pay. Now, some are choosing to shop using Bitcoin, the best-known virtual currency. Some merchants, like Reeds Jewelers, accept Bitcoin primarily because customers want to use the …
Read More »With a Lower Interbank Fee, NACHA’s Same-Day Settlement Plan Wins Approval
The voting members of automated clearing house network regulator NACHA have approved a plan to allow for same-day settlement of ACH transactions, NACHA announced Tuesday. The same-day proposal, which has been debated since its introduction early last year, received “overwhelming support” in the balloting, says a NACHA spokesperson. NACHA does …
Read More »Global Payments Seeks Dismissal of the CFPB’s ‘Unprecedented’ Accusations
By Jim Daly Global Payments Inc., the biggest processor swept up in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s April lawsuit against allegedly fraudulent debt collectors, came out with guns blazing Thursday in its first response to the CFPB’s complaint. “The CFPB’s attempt to hold Global [Payments] responsible for the actions of …
Read More »Apriva Issues Software Development Kit To Ease Mobile-Payment Integration in Apps
It’s no secret that one cool use of smart phones and tablet computers is the ability to use apps. Research firm eMarketer Inc. predicts that 93% of U.S. smart-phone users will download and install at least one app in 2015, and 90% of tablet users will, too. It’s also …
Read More »Processors Contest CFPB Charges That They Improperly Aided Debt Collectors
By Jim Daly Processors accused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last month of aiding allegedly fraudulent debt collectors by providing them with payments services are beginning to file their answers to the federal charges. At least one of them is accusing the CFPB of “regulatory overreach” in the style …
Read More »As Mobile Payments Applications Grow, Startups Reap Rich Investment Haul
Mobile payments emerged on the scene a few years ago, but now it’s clear every market they touch—from the point of sale to peer-to-peer transfers to online lending—has become hot for investment. For proof, look no further than the latest list of so-called unicorns, privately held startups valued at $1 …
Read More »Green Dot Struggles With MoneyPak Closure but Reduces Reliance on Wal-Mart
Prepaid card issuer and services provider Green Dot Corp. lost considerable reload volume and revenues in the first quarter because of the discontinuance of its popular MoneyPak product, but the company late Thursday said its core businesses demonstrated good organic growth and recent acquisitions gave a big boost to the …
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