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Jim Daly Microsoft next month will cease support for its Windows XP operating system, which runs hundreds of thousands of ATMs. But many ATM deployers seem to have adopted a “what, me worry?” attitude. In the ATM world, April 8, 2014, could go down as April Fools’ Day a week …
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Cover Story: Prepaid’s Big Makeover
Prepaid card program managers and issuers are moving beyond their original customer base and ramping up offerings, producing intense competition and falling prices. By Jane Adler Shopped at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. lately? A trip past the checkout lane reveals a robust array of new prepaid card offerings. For example, Wal-Mart’s …
Read More »Endpoint: The Sorrows of Young Bitcoin
Though it has attracted fervent enthusiasts, Bitcoin in the end offers less than meets the eye, says Eric Grover. For an electronic-payment system, the lack of central accountability is a flaw, not a feature. Eric Grover is principal at Intrepid Ventures, Minden, Nev. Reach him at eric.grover@intrepidventures.com. Bitcoin mania is …
Read More »Neiman Marcus Downsizes by Two-Thirds Its Tally of Cards Compromised in Breach
In a rare piece of good, or least not as bad, news about the recent retailer payment card data breaches, upscale department-store chain Neiman Marcus Group says about 350,000 cards were compromised by the breach it disclosed in January, down from its earlier estimate of 1.1 million. The number of …
Read More »EMV Chip Cards and Revenue Streams Worry Independent ATM Deployers
The coming of Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards along with pressures on interchange and surcharge revenues are the top three concerns of U.S. ATM independent sales organizations and other retail deployers, according to survey results from the ATM Industry Association. The trade group’s annual survey of what’s on its members’ minds …
Read More »MasterCard, Visa Release Specs To Enable NFC Payments That Bypass the Secure Element
A form of near-field communication that does not require a secure element to complete a mobile payment now has the formal backing of card brands MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc. Each of them announced today their respective contactless payment schemes support so-called host card emulation. Host card emulation got a …
Read More »Capital One Buys Into Big Banks’ clearXchange P2P Payment Service
Card issuer and bank Capital One Financial Corp. has bought into the clearXchange person-to-person payment company, becoming the fourth owner. Founded in 2011, clearXchange was started by Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., with the idea of leveraging a consumer’s existing relationship …
Read More »Lamassu Claims First U.S. Bitcoin ATM Deployment with Installation in New Mexico
What is said to be the first ATM for Bitcoins in the United States was announced on Tuesday by Lamassu Inc., which made the machine. The ATM is installed in a cigar bar and lounge near the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, according to a news release from Lamassu. …
Read More »The Feds Give a Cautious OK to Financial Services for Legal Marijuana Sellers
The gradual lowering of barriers that have kept legal marijuana merchants outside of the financial mainstream gained momentum Friday in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced new guidelines that signal federal approval for banks to serve legal marijuana …
Read More »As Key Chip Deadline Looms, Doubts Emerge About Small Merchants’ Readiness
With Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. digging in their heels on a key chip card deadline, payments executives are expressing doubts that all U.S. small businesses will be ready. “The short answer is no,” says Henry Helgeson, chief executive of Merchant Warehouse, a Boston-based merchant processor. “We still have a …
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