Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Carrier billing as an e-commerce and mobile-commerce payment option is poised to expand significantly beyond the mobile phone realm when Microsoft Corp. releases Windows 10 later this year. And carrier-billing specialist Boku Inc. says direct carrier billing is a payment option for apps and digital content available from Google …
Read More »Search Results for: digital payments
With Ripple’s Settlement, the Feds Send a Message to Cryptocurrency Providers
By Jim Daly The federal government sent a message Tuesday that the new virtual-currency providers are subject to the same regulations as long-established money-transfer firms when it announced that Ripple Labs Inc. would pay a $700,000 civil penalty and take remedial actions in lieu of criminal prosecution. The announcements came …
Read More »Western Union Says Reports of Possible MoneyGram Buyout ‘Are Not Accurate’
By Jim Daly Wire-transfer market leader The Western Union Co. issued a brief statement early Wednesday afternoon saying reports that it is in early talks to buy rival MoneyGram International Inc. “are not accurate.” The statement appeared to quickly deflate the two companies’ stock prices, especially MoneyGram’s, which had soared …
Read More »Forecast Indicates 800 Million U.S. Cards Could Have EMV Chips by Year’s End
By Jim Daly U.S. credit and debit card issuers will have about 150 million more EMV chip cards in circulation by year’s end than predicted last summer, according to the latest forecast from an industry group promoting the conversion of U.S. card payments to smart cards. The Payments Security Task …
Read More »Research Shows How Durbin Torpedoed Visa And MasterCard’s PIN Debit Traffic
By John Stewart The Durbin Amendment’s transaction-routing requirements, which have been in effect now for three years, are widely thought to have benefited merchants by increasing competition for debit card traffic. But PIN debit networks that aren’t owned by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. were expected to benefit as well …
Read More »When Short-Circuiting Is Fatal
Payments 3.0 A good working definition of short-circuiting something is “to force the termination of a process before its conclusion by bypassing one or more steps.” Short-circuiting also usually blows up the bypassed mechanism. Established industries operate on mutually agreed-upon principles and rules. But when the rules become over-protective of …
Read More »An American Fortress
Durbin Amendment aside, American payment cards have mostly escaped the type of regulation affecting cards in other countries. Can that last? The United States is increasingly becoming an island in a widening sea of payment card regulation. Just last month, Canada’s federal government updated its 5-year-old Code of Conduct for …
Read More »Mobile Wallet Wars: Part One Big-Time Gladiators in the Arena
Five big players are slugging it out to win what has proven to be all-too-elusive: consumer and merchant adoption. Here’s a close look at the Big 5’s strengths and weaknesses. (Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a two-part examination of the current landscape for mobile payments. Look for …
Read More »TMS Alters Agent Compensation Plan As Part of a Push to Leverage EMV And NFC
Independent sales organization Total Merchant Services Inc. hopes a newly altered agent-compensation plan will result in more merchants using EMV-compatible point-of-sale terminals. The U.S. payment card industry is migrating to EMV chip cards, requiring that merchants use compatible terminals. As a way to motivate its sales agents and get more …
Read More »So, Where’s the User?
The Gimlet Eye Mobility’s importance in payments these days grows apace. No sooner were we getting used to paying in-app and in-store on smart phones than so-called wearables came along with payments capability built in. Apple began shipping its smart watch last month with Apple Pay functionality, and American Express …
Read More »