The EFT networks are broadening their product lineups, but are EMV and the global networks getting in their way? Eyeing high-growth payment markets such as e-commerce, the surviving electronic funds transfer networks are in a rush to expand their product menus beyond bread-and-butter PIN-debit transaction switching. At the same time, …

The EFT networks are broadening their product lineups, but are EMV and the global networks getting in their way? Eyeing high-growth payment markets such as e-commerce, the surviving electronic funds transfer networks are in a rush to expand their product menus beyond bread-and-butter PIN-debit transaction switching. At the same time, …

The first version of the online-authentication protocol has acquired a nasty rep. With a new version on the way, will it go from four-letter word to four-star performer? It just might be the best-kept secret in payments. An authentication protocol called 3-D Secure, which issuers, acquirers, and merchants have used …

The first version of the online-authentication protocol has acquired a nasty rep. With a new version on the way, will it go from four-letter word to four-star performer? It just might be the best-kept secret in payments. An authentication protocol called 3-D Secure, which issuers, acquirers, and merchants have used …

The idea of the payments consortium has a checkered history. Nick Holland explains why. We have recently witnessed the likely demise of yet another attempt at cracking the mobile-payments nut. For many, the implosion of Merchant Customer Exchange LLC’s CurrentC wallet venture was no great surprise. To be sure, MCX …

The idea of the payments consortium has a checkered history. Nick Holland explains why. We have recently witnessed the likely demise of yet another attempt at cracking the mobile-payments nut. For many, the implosion of Merchant Customer Exchange LLC’s CurrentC wallet venture was no great surprise. To be sure, MCX …

Last month, I proposed a government-administered program that would offer citizens a cyber passport, a randomized, replaceable, short-lived code that, once issued, would become a requirement for all critical online transactions involving the covered individual. I asserted that this initiative would defeat today’s plague of massive breaches, which turns millions …

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Rich Oliver, payments consultant, speaker, and retired executive vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. We discussed some of the hurdles he sees in the U.S. payments system as it accelerates from decades of glacial evolution to the world …

Last month, I proposed a government-administered program that would offer citizens a cyber passport, a randomized, replaceable, short-lived code that, once issued, would become a requirement for all critical online transactions involving the covered individual. I asserted that this initiative would defeat today’s plague of massive breaches, which turns millions …

Speaking of merchant-network skirmishes, fighting between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Visa Inc. broke out anew last month when, citing high acceptance costs, Wal-Mart’s Canadian unit announced that it will no longer accept Visa payment cards in its stores through a gradual phase-out set to begin July 18. Wal-Mart’s carefully phrased …