Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
By John Stewart As dramatic as their joint tokenization announcement was on Tuesday, key officials with Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., and American Express Co. cautioned on Wednesday against far-reaching industry speculation about how the announcement might affect or relate to other standards, including near-field communication (NFC) and the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) …
Read More »Analysts See Smooth Transition at Global Payments As Garcia Gives Way to Sloan
By Kevin Woodward The appointment on Tuesday of Jeffrey S. Sloan as the new chief executive of payment processor Global Payments Inc., succeeding long-time chief executive Paul Garcia, surprised hardly anyone. Sloan, who joined Global Payments as president in 2010, has a history with the company. Garcia, who was named …
Read More »Mobile Purchases Claim a Rapidly Rising Share of E-Commerce Traffic, Gateway Study Shows
By Kevin Woodward Smart phones and tablets continue to garner a larger share of payments as consumers increasingly use the mobile devices for more than talking and sending text messages, finds a survey from Amsterdam-based global gateway provider Adyen Inc. In the Adyen Global Mobile Payments Index, covering May through August, …
Read More »Dueling Studies Reach Opposite Conclusions About Consumers’ Durbin Savings
Durbin Amendment critics have long accused merchants of pocketing the billions they’ve saved since the amendment’s highly controversial debit card interchange price controls took effect two years ago Tuesday. Now, however, retailers are rolling out a study estimating that merchants passed on $5.86 billion in Durbin-related savings to consumers last …
Read More »Having Stopped Branch Sales, Chase Exits the Open-Loop Gift Card Business Entirely
JPMorgan Chase & Co., which this spring stopped selling Visa gift cards through its network of branches, has now quit the business entirely. The decision comes weeks ahead of the biggest selling season of the year for gift cards but doesn’t surprise some observers, who point to the challenges recent …
Read More »Fast-Growing Braintree Brings Merchant Focus, Market Share to PayPal Wallet, Observers Say
EBay Inc.’s agreement to shell out $800 million for Braintree Payments Solutions LLC, announced on Thursday, signals the online auction giant’s desire to extend its PayPal brand further into mobile commerce and in-store commerce, analysts suggest. EBay’s confirmation of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, …
Read More »Post-VeriFone, Bergeron Runs a $500 Million Warchest To Buy Payments Companies
By Kevin Woodward Six months after leaving point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc., Douglas G. Bergeron is leading a new enterprise targeting financial-services and payments companies for acquisition. Dubbed Opus Global Holdings LLC, the new company has $500 million at its disposal to buy companies. Bergeron is collaborating …
Read More »By Snagging Official Payments, ACI Bolsters Client Base, Recurring Revenue
ACI Worldwide Inc.’s $109 million deal to buy Official Payments Holdings Inc. is a bid to grow its transaction volume and pairs well with its January purchase of Online Resources Corp., analysts suggest. Official Payments is a processor that specializes in online payments to government entities. ACI Worldwide is paying …
Read More »Make Payments Faster, And Stop Trying to Start New Networks, Fed Conference Speakers Say
When it comes to payments, the United States might be considered the land of the gap, according to a Federal Reserve assessment issued earlier this month. The assessment is the first of a three-part research study aimed at spurring the modernization of U.S. electronic payments, which many public-sector researchers and …
Read More »Selection of Galant As New Boss Suggests VeriFone Will Keep Spotlight on Services
VeriFone Systems Inc. on Monday named Citigroup executive Paul Galant as its chief executive, ending a six-month quest for a permanent top executive. Galant replaces interim chief executive Richard McGinn, who assumed that role in March when long-time chief executive Douglas G. Bergeron left the San Jose, Calif.-based point-of-sale terminal …
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