Frankly, a Level 4 validation mandate by industry leaders in the payments space would only cement in place a practice that already exists, but is not enforced uniformly.   We’ve had the PCI DSS for years, yet breaches continue to put small merchants out of business. The cause is …

  With the increasing popularity of smart phones and other mobile gadgets, major brick-and-mortar retail chains like Home Depot and Nordstrom began adopting mobile point-of-sale systems this year. And now smaller chains have begun equipping floor personnel with mobile devices that can scan merchandise and help customers look up out-of-stock …

If the best present for a merchant acquirer is more transactions to process, 2011’s Christmas has already arrived. Various reports from acquirers, payment processors, and research firms indicate that electronic transaction volumes are up sharply over 2010’s levels despite the gloom that still colors most economic news. Dallas-based Chase Paymentech, …

  n Online sales for the year will reach $309 billion, up 16% from $266 billion in 2010, according to the report. That volume will grow to $346 billion next year and $444 billion 2016, the report forecasts. General-purpose credit cards will capture 40% of online spending in 2011 and …

The prepaid card industry is marching to new frontiers as November heads toward a close. Intuit Inc. on Tuesday is expected to launch a prepaid Visa card for new merchants in its GoPayment smart-phone-based service, and the Federal Reserve Board approved prepaid card program manager Green Dot Corp.’s plan to …

  With the holiday-shopping season set to kick off on Friday, a startup in San Diego has launched a Web site that lets consumers buy gift cards at 10% of face value. The remaining balance, the company says, comes due only when the cards are redeemed. The site, from Moola …

The alliance MasterCard Inc. announced earlier this week with Intel Corp. to secure e-commerce transactions will not supersede SecureCode, a MasterCard online authentication system, but will fairly soon lead to a new type of contactless-payment device from an emerging category of ultra-thin, fast-start PCs, executives with both companies tell Digital …

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  Visa Inc. will launch its digital wallet product some time early in 2012, but contactless-payment capability won’t be part of the wallet until the second half of the year, a Visa executive responsible for the product tells Digital Transactions News. The first release of the wallet, which Visa is …

  n n n n n n n n n Besides generating recommendations and advice applicable immediately, Russo expects the SIGs will develop insights that find their way into the next major update of the existing PCI version 2.0. Version 3.0 will be unveiled in late 2013 and take effect …