Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

March, 2016

• 24 March

  Cash Preference Weakens As Younger Consumers Go for Cards, Especially Debit

  Industry efforts to persuade consumers to use credit and debit cards for small-ticket purchases may be paying off, at least among younger consumers, finds a survey from CreditCards.com, a card comparison site for consumers. In the survey of more than 600 U.S. adult credit card holders sampled in early March, …
• 24 March

  PayPal, Card Brands Gain More Than Banks in Consumer Mobile-Wallet Preferences

  If consumers wanted a mobile wallet in 2013 and 2014, they wanted it from their primary financial institution. But things changed in 2015, when PayPal and Visa surpassed banks and credit unions as preferred wallet providers. That’s the bad news for financial institutions in a new report about mobile wallets …
• 24 March

  Apple Pay May Be Coming to M-Commerce Sites and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Starbucks Corp. said JPMorgan Chase & Co. by year’s end will issue a Visa-branded Starbucks reloadable prepaid card that will allow cardholders to earn Starbucks “stars,” or loyalty points, for purchases just about anywhere Visa is accepted; the new card is an extension of Starbucks’ relationship with JPMorgan Chase’s …
• 23 March

  As the Risk of Online Fraud Rises, the Air-Travel Industry Wrestles With 3-D Secure

  By John Stewart   These days, the airline and air-travel industry finds itself squeezed between two imperatives that have come into sharp focus in recent months. With high average tickets, airlines must guard against fraud at a time when the spread of EMV chip cards is pushing more criminals into …
• 22 March

  COMMENTARY: How Faulty Merchant Agreements Sink ISOs

  By Eugene Rome   Merchant-service providers of all shapes and sizes learn the hard way that cutting corners by using cut-and-paste tactics to create a merchant agreement can end up in costly litigation. Independent sales organizations, third-party processors, and payment facilitators must have a merchant agreement that is tailored to …
• 22 March

  Seeking Higher Conversion Rates, Payment Companies Target Streamlined Checkouts

  Checkout abandonment, particularly on smart phones, remains high, suppressing transaction volumes and prompting new payment options to enable a faster, smoother process when consumers are ready to buy. BlueSnap Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based gateway, announced Tuesday an update to its Powered Buy Platform that aims to improve mobile and e-commerce …
• 22 March

  Squeezed by Competitors And Finances, Jumio Sees a Savior in Facebook’s Co-Founder

  Online and mobile-authentication technology provider Jumio Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection and put itself up for sale Monday, but the Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm expects to live on thanks to support from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Saverin, an early equity investor who has injected at least $23 million into Jumio …
• 21 March

  Aided by Mobile Tech And Social Media, Digital Payments Are Surging Globally

  While the U.S. market wrestles with its nearly 6-month-long transition to EMV chip cards and contactless payments based on near-field communication (NFC) technology, the rest of the world is surging ahead with contactless, online, and mobile transactions, according to the latest report from Juniper Research. Total digital payments worldwide will …
• 21 March

  Eye on Cuba: Stripe, PayPal and Western Union Eye a New Growth Market

  With President Obama in the midst of a historic trip to Cuba Monday, payments companies ranging from Stripe to PayPal to Western Union are eyeing new transaction growth as relations thaw between the U.S. and the island nation just 105 miles from Florida. Online payments provider Stripe Inc. announced that …
• 21 March

  Former MCX Chief Joins InStream Board and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • NCR Corp. says its Epsilon payments application received EMV certification from First Data Corp., enabling the app to process credit and debit EMV transactions in its Radiant POS and StorePoint POS products. • Former Merchant Customer Exchange LLC chief executive Dekkers L. Davidson joined the InStream Inc. board of directors. …