Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

January, 2013

• 29 January

  First Data Names Labry As Interim CEO, Reports Mixed Quarterly Results

  First Data Corp. late on Monday named Ed Labry, president of the big processor’s North American unit, as interim chief executive officer to  replace current chief executive Jonathan J. Judge, who is retiring early for health reasons. The announcement came less than a day before First Data announced mixed fourth-quarter …
• 28 January

  Casting a Shadow on Social Commerce, Payvment Shuts Down, Sells Itself to Intuit

    Intuit Inc. on Monday acquired the assets of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Payvment Inc., a 3-year-old vendor of shopping-cart and payment tools for merchants operating on social networks. Terms of the deal, which capped a series of developments that for some observers cast doubt on the market for so-called social …
• 25 January

  NACHA’s Bill-Pay Council Puts the Finishing Touches on Its QR-Code Guidelines

  Mobile bill payments took a step forward Thursday when automated clearing house network overseer NACHA reported that its Council for Electronic Billing and Payment (CEBP) had developed final guidelines for consumers to use Quick Response (QR) codes on bills to facilitate electronic payments. The guidelines are voluntary for billers, banks …
• 25 January

  Forecasters Predict Credit Card Surcharges Will Find Few Takers Come Jan. 27

  The surcharging provisions of the credit card interchange settlement announced last July will take effect on Sunday, but observers expect few merchants will take advantage of their new-found freedom to add a surcharge to Visa and MasterCard credit card sales. “I know of nobody” who plans to surcharge, says Mitch …
• 24 January

  On the Rise, Mobile Bill Pay Could Spur More E-Bill Presentment, Card Usage

  U.S. consumers are rapidly turning to mobile devices to pay bills, and that trend in turn is likely to encourage more card usage for bill payment and more electronic bill presentment, according to a study released this week. Some 8% of households with an Internet connection paid at least one …
• 24 January

  Will Apple Press Forward Or Take a Pass on Passbook Payments?

  n Passbook? The topic of Apple Inc.’s loyalty application didn’t come up Wednesday afternoon when the leading Silicon Valley tech company’s top brass discussed their latest quarterly results, which stock analysts found disappointing. But some smart-phone industry observers see evidence that Apple is laying the groundwork for a full-fledged mobile-payments …
• 23 January

  New Assessment of Durbin’s Effects Warns Fixed Network Fees Could Crimp Competition

  A sweeping review by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City of the Durbin Amendment’s effects warns that competition could be harmed if more payment card networks adopt fixed-pricing plans as they compete for merchant business in the newly regulated debit card environment. The new report is the first of …
• 22 January

  Concerns About Need for Open Chip Card Standard Prompted Letter, X9 Says

  An effort by a U.S. standards body to gauge interest in a meeting to discuss an open-standard alternative to EMV for chip cards stems primarily from the organization’s concern that EMV’s specifications are not commonly owned by the payments industry, the body’s top executive says. “EMV is a proprietary standard, …
• 18 January

  Eye on Volumes: American Express, Chase Paymentech, Bank of America, U.S. Bank

  Some of the biggest payments companies and debit card issuers this week reported their latest volumes and related data along with their fourth-quarter financials. • American Express Co. late Thursday reported that U.S. card-billed business grew 7% to $155.5 billion from $145.5 billion in 2011’s last quarter. International volume increased …
• 18 January

  MasterCard Proposes a Durbin Solution for EMV, But Will EFT Execs Buy It?

  MasterCard Inc. on Friday proposed a solution that it says would allow merchant acquirers to route EMV debit transactions in compliance with a federal law mandating that merchants have a choice of networks. Under the proposal, MasterCard would open a proprietary application identifier (AID) associated with its Maestro brand to …