You Said How Many EMV Cards? The conversion of U.S. magnetic-stripe credit and debit cards to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card standard is finally under way, but just how quickly most Americans will be carrying smart cards is a matter of debate. Citing reports from industry suppliers, the EMV Migration …

Jim Daly For a time, it seemed like open-fare contactless smart cards might take over payments on America’s buses, subways, and commuter trains, but then along came smart phones and EMV. The only thing that moves slower than a bus stuck in a 5:00 p.m. traffic jam is the process …

The U.S. is in the throes of adopting chip cards, but the immensity and complexity of its payment card industry ensures the migration to chip cards is no easy task. The biggest issue is getting all merchants on board. By Kevin Woodward Naiveté is not a trait payment card industry …

Even people in the payments industry are confusing the terms, and that’s obscuring some important developments in mobile acceptance, says Scott Holt. The convergence of mobile payment and mobile-payment acceptance is interesting because it enables a true mobile-to-mobile transaction. Scott Holt is vice president of Roam Data Inc., Boston, Mass. …

Non-bank ATM operators, which run an estimated 52% of the nation’s approximately 412,000 ATMs, are struggling to maintain profitability as revenues come under pressure and costs continue to rise, according to a recent study of U.S. ATM deployers by Tremont Capital Group Inc. and the ATM Industry Association. On the …

Two MasterCard Inc. rules governing fee changes and disclosures may catch many in the payment industry unaware even though the rules first became known in December. That is the assessment of attorneys Howard Herndon and Josh Rosenblatt at Frost Brown Todd LLC, a Nashville, Tenn.-based firm. “Typically, acquiring banks and …

Nothing like a good data breach to serve as a kick in the pants. Thanks in part to Target Corp.’s breach that compromised 40 million payment cards, debit card issuers are committing themselves to the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card standard to a much greater extent than they did a year …

By Jim Daly n The surcharge-free Allpoint ATM network will begin offering deposit-taking services to customers of U.S. member financial institutions at 2,500 ATMs in 7-Eleven Inc. stores and other locations, Allpoint owner Cardtronics Inc. said Wednesday. n The deal represents a new way for Cardtronics, which owns or operates …

Transactional credit providers have been few and far between. Bill Me Later launched 14 years ago and was snapped up by eBay Inc. in 2008. BillFloat Inc. started up four years ago and has changed its name to Better Finance Inc. It’s a challenging business requiring close attention to funding costs and …

Best known for providing wireless card payments for vending machines and unattended locations such as coin laundries, USA Technologies Inc. (USAT) is challenging Square Inc. and other mobile-payments providers in a move to get more mileage out of its specialty processing system. After introducing its mobile services last year, the …