Tuesday , April 16, 2024

Jim Daly

Jim Daly joined Digital Transactions in 2006 after covering payments and merchant acquiring at Thomson Media’s Credit Card Management, Credit Card News, and CardLine publications. Before that, he was a reporter and editor at the daily Leader-Telegram in Eau Claire, Wis.

The Beat Picks Up at Pulse as Discover’s Transaction Volume Grows

Last year was a year of revival for Discover Financial Services’ long-suffering Pulse debit network, which posted a 19% fourth-quarter increase in year-over-year dollar volume on 15% more transactions. The strong finish—$42.4 billion in volume on 1.03 billion transactions—brought Pulse’s full-year volume to $157.1 billion, up 14% from $138 billion …

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Merchant Unit and a $136 Million Present From Uncle Sam Boost TSYS’s Bottom Line

Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) generated $1.1 billion in segment revenues from its Merchant Solutions unit in 2017, a 22.8% increase from $898.5 million in 2016, the Columbus, Ga.-based processor reported late Tuesday. That growth outpaced 2017’s revenue increases of 5.2% and 12.6%, respectively, in TSYS’s card-issuing and Netspend prepaid …

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FBI Data Show Fraudulent Online Sales of Cars and Outdoor Equipment, Funded by Gift Cards, Are Soaring

Fraudulent online sales of cars, recreational vehicles, boats, and outdoor equipment are soaring, with the scams typically funded through the victims’ gift cards, according to recent FBI data. A public-service announcement the FBI posted last week on its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Web site says the site received 26,967 complaints …

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch Brings Single-Use Account Numbers to Business Payments

Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch subsidiary on Monday announced enhanced capabilities for its Virtual Payables service, including the ability by corporate card-using businesses to create single-use account numbers in real time. In addition to the single-use card numbers, businesses with a BofA Merrill purchasing card can connect directly to …

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The PCI Council Creates Associate QSA Program To Ease Cybersecurity Talent Shortage

The PCI Security Standards Council on Thursday unveiled its Associate Qualified Security Assessor program aimed at reducing a shortage of data-security professionals in the payments industry. The Wakefield, Mass.-based PCI Council certifies QSA companies to perform assessments of a firm’s compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, the main …

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Mobile Deposits at Community Banks and Credit Unions Grew 35% in 2017, Software Firm Says

Mobile remote deposit capture transactions jumped 35% in 2017 over the previous year thanks to an increase in users, a software firm specializing in digital-banking applications for community banks and credit unions reports. “For banks and credit unions live for all of 2017, mobile deposits grew by an average of …

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Merchant-Funded Rewards Program Developer Cardlytics Seeks More Growth Via an IPO

Cardlytics Inc., which analyzed 18 billion U.S. purchases in 2016 from customers of more than 1,600 financial institutions, last week filed for an initial public offering of stock that it hopes will raise $75 million in gross proceeds to further expand its marketing platforms. Atlanta-based Cardlytics was founded in 2008 …

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Gift Card Provider Blackhawk Network Going Private in $3.5 Billion Buyout

Gift and prepaid card services provider Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. reported Tuesday that it has a deal with two financial firms to be taken private for $3.5 billion. Private-equity firm Silver Lake Management L.L.C. and hedge fund P2 Capital Partners are offering $45.25 per share in cash. The offer represents …

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Zelle Rolls Out the First National TV Commercials for Its P2P Service

Zelle on Saturday was set to run the first spots in its initial national mass-media marketing campaign, which is centered on the Tony and Grammy Award-winning actor and rapper Daveed Diggs in an effort to appeal to what the bank-controlled person-to-person payments service calls the “mobile majority” of consumers. The …

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Eye on Banks: Chase’s Merchant Volume Hit $1.2 Trillion in 2017; Debit Purchases Rise 6% at Wells

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets and the biggest bank that runs its own merchant-acquiring operation, reported Friday that it processed $1.19 trillion in payment volume from merchants last year, up 12% from $1.06 trillion in 2016. Chase’s merchant volume rose 13% in 2017’s fourth quarter …

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