Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
How to improve the U.S. payment system? Figure out a way to make electronic payments faster and more secure, as well as a system that would connect various closed-loop payment networks with hundreds of millions accounts. And reduce regulation, too. Those were some of the ideas bandied about Thursday at …
Read More »Within Five Years, Caps on Credit Card Interchange Are Likely, According to a DTN Poll
With debit card interchange rates already regulated, a majority of respondents to a Digital Transactions News poll consider caps on credit card interchange within five years as very likely. n Though no such legislation is under review at this time, the response suggests few would be surprised should it appear. …
Read More »Survey Revealing Undisclosed Intrusions Indicates Data Breaches Are Under-Reported
The actual number of data breaches taking place in the United States may be much higher than generally understood, if a recent survey of corporate security professionals is any indication. The canvass of some 200 so-called malware analysts working for large and small enterprises revealed that fully 57% have dealt …
Read More »Despite Signs of Progress, Small Merchants Still Lag on Risk Assessment And PCI
Coming on the heels of the release last week by the PCI Security Standards Council of a revised Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) is a report Tuesday that shows how much progress small merchants are making in locking down card data—and how painfully slow much of that progress has …
Read More »The PCI Council Unveils Its ‘User-Friendly’ Version 3.0 of the PCI Security Rules
Better management of passwords and prevention of point-of-sale terminal tampering are just two features of the new Version 3.0 of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard that the PCI Security Standards Council unveiled Thursday. On its surface, Version 3.0 looks much the same as the previous edition, 2.0, which the …
Read More »Insurer Enables Auto Policy Selection and Payment Via its Kiosks
Consumers in Tennessee shopping for car insurance from Direct Auto Insurance have a new option to select a policy and pay for it using the insurer’s Direct on the Spot kiosks. Set up in 18 Direct Auto Insurance locations, the kiosks are designed to broaden the insurer’s reach among …
Read More »Google’s NFC Move Hands New Opportunity to ISOs, But Much Depends on Carrier Reaction
Independent sales organizations and other acquirers could exploit Google Inc.’s move to decouple mobile payments based on near-field communication technology from a phone-based secure element, observers say. At the same time, much depends on how the mobile carriers, which have held tight control over the secure element, react to Google’s …
Read More »Analyst: Discover’s Merchant Network Might Be a Good Buy for a Mobile-Wallet Provider
Should Discover Financial Services sell its network business? That’s the intriguing question raised by an analyst at investment-banking firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a report assessing how mobile devices and related technologies are rapidly reshaping the payments industry. Sanjay Sakhrani, a managing director at New York City-based KBW, argues …
Read More »Visa, MasterCard Post Big Volume Gains As They Fight for Credit, Debit Card Spend
U.S. bank card purchase volumes rose in the 10% range in the quarter ending Sept. 30, with MasterCard Inc. growing faster than Visa Inc. in debit and Visa gaining faster than MasterCard in credit. MasterCard on Thursday reported total U.S. credit, charge, and debit card purchase volume of $267 billion, …
Read More »Only $36 Billion of $2.1 Trillion Bill-Payment Market Paid Via Mobile Devices
The impact of tablets and smart phones on payments is largely unfelt in bill payment with only $36 billion of the $2.1 trillion in annual bill payments made by these mobile devices, finds a new report from consultancy Javelin Strategy & Research. That equates to about 5% of U.S. consumers. …
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