News

March, 2016

• 18 March

  Semi-Integrated POS Products Could Reduce EMV Certification Costs and Save Time

  Independent software vendors, value-added resellers, and point-of-sale software developers facing the daunting task of certifying their unique products for EMV payment acceptance may face costs starting at $30,000. That figure, which comes from Andrey Tikhonov, senior director of payment technology at Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based Infinite Peripherals Inc., reflects the …
• 18 March

  Sen. Durbin Suggests That the Big Networks Have Too Much Power Over Chip Cards

  U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, author of 2010’s controversial Durbin Amendment, wants to know about the inner workings of EMVCo, the chip card standards body owned by the six largest global payment card networks. A statement Thursday from the Illinois Democrat says Durbin is “seeking information on whether the deployment of …
• 17 March

  It’ll Be 14 Years Before Mobile Payments Are Secure To Leave Cash And Cards at Home

  The prospect of leaving the house with just a smart phone in lieu of a wallet full of cash and payment cards is 14 years away, according to a survey released Thursday by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a technology association based in New York City. By …
• 17 March

  Green Dot’s New Test With Uber Drivers Could Drive Traffic to Its Bank

  Prepaid card provider Green Dot Corp. on Thursday announced a test with ride-sharing service Uber in which Uber drivers can be paid instantly via deposits into Green Dot’s subsidiary bank. Drivers for San Francisco-based Uber normally are paid once a week via direct deposit into financial accounts on file with …
• 16 March

  Eye on mPOS: Click a Waiter Debuts White Label POS; Aspex Lands Frontier Airlines

  Two mobile point-of-sale system providers are doing their part in the proliferation of such systems with the release of Click a Waiter Inc.’s white-label POS system and Aspex LLC’s deal with Frontier Airlines to provide an onboard POS system. Leominster, Mass.-based Click a Waiter Tuesday released a white-label version of …
• 16 March

  First Data Continues Streamlining Operations With Facilities Changes

  First Data Corp. recently closed one office in Florida and plans to close a bigger one in New York next year, but the company still added 1,000 employees to its worldwide head count last year. Newsday, the newspaper of Long Island, N.Y., reported Tuesday that First Data filed a report …
• 15 March

  A Dearth of Referrals Should Prompt ISOs to Rethink Merchant Approach, Expert Says

    Most businesses thrive on referrals from existing clients, but acquirers and independent sales organizations get a surprisingly paltry number of referrals from the merchants they process for. In fact, fewer than 1% of merchants refer other merchants to their transaction servicer, even in the face of rewards such as …
• 15 March

  Bitcoin Out at Microsoft’s Windows Store and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Dissident shareholder Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, owner of 7.8% of prepaid card provider Green Dot Corp., nominated three director candidates for election at Green Dot’s upcoming annual shareholder meeting. Green Dot issued a statement saying it had recently offered Harvest Capital the opportunity to appoint one director immediately and …
• 14 March

  Venmo Blogs About Security Policies After Keywords Trigger Transaction Delays

  PayPal Holdings Inc.’s popular Venmo person-to-person payments service posted a review of the company’s anti-money-laundering and related security policies Sunday in the wake of transaction reviews triggered by certain keywords in Venmo messages that have slowed down the payments process. “There has been recent discussion around specific keywords associated with …
• 14 March

  Coinstar and Redbox Parent Firm Outerwall Looking at Strategic Alternatives

  Its original Coinstar coin-counting business long overshadowed by its once-booming but now fading Redbox DVD and video-game rental business, Outerwall Inc. on Monday announced that it had hired investment banker Morgan Stanley & Co. “to explore strategic and financial alternatives” for Outerwall shareholders. The company simultaneously announced that would double …