Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• The Texas Attorney General’s office and PayPal Holdings Inc. last week settled the office’s allegations that PayPal’s Venmo person-to-person payments service compromised customers’ privacy and security; PayPal agreed to improve disclosures, ensure that Venmo users know who can see their transaction information, and pay the state $175,000. “We are cooperating with regulators in their efforts to ensure that consumers have positive experiences when using our services, especially when it comes to disclosures on how we operate,” PayPal said in a statement emailed to Digital Transactions News. “This agreement is a result of PayPal working in good faith and collaborating with the state of Texas to create a better experience for our Venmo users.” The Federal Trade Commission also is investigating Venmo.
• The Electronic Payments Coalition, a lobbying group that represents card issuers and networks, issued a report to rebut merchant contentions that the Durbin Amendment helped consumers and drove employment gains. “Independent data from the Federal Reserve verifies that merchants are the sole beneficiaries of interchange price caps, at the expense of both consumers and the financial industry,” the EPC said.
• While most merchants admit omnichannel payment capability will be important within the next two years, more than 43% do not offer any such capability, according to a survey released by trade-show organizer CardNotPresent.com and Vesta Corp., a fraud-management company.
• Prepaid card issuer Green Dot Corp. issued an apology for its recent processing glitch that prevented some cardholders from accessing their funds; the company said it expects to have all issues resolved by this weekend and would put extra money into some of the affected cardholders’ accounts.
• The investor group that owns General Credit Forms Inc. and four other firms that supply forms, labels, and related paper products and services for point-of-sale payments and money transfers acquired K.E. Label, a St. Louis manufacturer of labels and tags.
• Revel Systems said it is integrating Expensify Inc.’s expense-reporting software into its iPad-based point-of-sale products for restaurants and retailers.
• NCR Corp. added new billing options to its NCR Silver and NCR Silver Pro Restaurant Edition point-of-sale apps, including the ability of service businesses to take future orders.
• U.S. e-commerce payments gateway AlternativePayments.com launched a new solution allowing online merchants to accept local currencies in key markets such as the European Union.
• Processor Fiserv Inc. said it will integrate Zementis Inc.’s ADAPA predictive-analytics system into its financial crime risk-management platform.
