Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Payments security is the top concern of retailers in 2015, finds a Boston Retail Partners report. This comes as retailers contend with increased scrutiny of their data-protection practices and a sweeping transformation of the U.S. payment card system. In the survey of more than 500 retailers, 63% cited payment security …
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A Contact Sport
Hoping for contactless chip cards? Not likely any time soon. The contact version of EMV is emerging as the clear issuer choice as October’s liability shift approaches. Here’s why. It’s show time for chip cards. With the payment card networks’ so-called liability shift now just eight months away, U.S. general-purpose …
Read More »Silicon Valley’s Payments Fever
A flood of payments initiatives has come out of the Valley, with more on the way. What is it about this business that gets the mercury rising out there? Where do people in payments look for innovation? Yes, some of it shows up in Boston, a little in Chicago and …
Read More »Gift Card Sales To Surpass $124 Billion in 2014
Gift cards sales in 2014 will top $124 billion in the United States, but that comes amid slowing growth, says a new report from CEB TowerGroup. The Arlington, Va.-based advisory firm predicts that gift card sales will see annual growth rates from 5% to 6% through 2017, an indication …
Read More »With Its McDonald’s Deal, Softcard Gains More Access to Everyday Spend for its NFC Wallet
While Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay mobile wallet has been grabbing the headlines, the telco-controlled Softcard mobile-payments service this week lined up another major fast-food chain. Consumers now can use their Softcard mobile wallets to pay for purchases at U.S. McDonald’s locations. Formerly known as Isis, Softcard is a smart …
Read More »Theft of Users’ Email Addresses Overshadows MCX’s Attempt To Blunt ‘Misinformed’ Comment
By Jim Daly and Kevin Woodward Just hours after Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), the retailer-backed developer of the CurrentC mobile-payments service, posted a response to reports about some of its members dumping Apple Inc.’s rival Apple Pay service, the company notified customers that “unauthorized third parties” had obtained email …
Read More »MCX Implies Its Ready To Accept General-Purpose Cards, but Questions Remain
By Jim Daly Attempting to do damage control in the wake of an email hack and unfavorable publicity about retailers who want to accept other mobile wallets, the chief executive of the retailer-sponsored Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX) mobile-payments service said Wednesday that MCX is working with general-purpose credit card …
Read More »Would-Be Apple Pay Users Disappointed When Rite Aid Apparently Turns Off NFC
By Jim Daly As a complex new technology-based service, Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay was certain to hit some speed bumps after it debuted Oct. 20. Sure enough, reports of glitches surfaced, such as about 1,000 double charges on Apple Pay transactions funded by Bank of America Corp. debit cards. But …
Read More »COMMENTARY: How Passbook Positions Apple to Command—Not Just Align With—the Payments Industry
By Rick Oglesby, Double Diamond Payments Research With Apple Pay now confirmed to launch on Monday, we are closer to seeing the impact it will have on mobile-payments acceptance, technologies, and standards. In the meantime, much of the debate concerning Apple Inc.’s payments venture has missed a crucial point. While …
Read More »U.S. Mobile Payments Forecasted to Reach $3.5 Billion in 2014
Making a mobile payment is not commonplace yet, but the trend is heading that way, at least if a forecast from research firm eMarketer Inc. holds true. Mobile payments in the United States in 2014 are predicted to reach $3.5 billion, more than double the 2013 figure of $1.59 …
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