Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Leading ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. this week issued a warning about a new variant of card skimming that gives an ATM user no clue that the machine’s card reader is stealing debit card information. Meanwhile, a report says payment cards used at a theme park in Hershey, Pa., may have …
June, 2015
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26 June
EMV Confusion Helps Lift Encryption to Top of Merchants’ Security-Tech List
By Kevin Woodward Encryption technologies, which mask sensitive card data with mathematically derived characters and numbers, appear to be the security method that resonates best with merchants. That’s the result of a Digital Transactions News survey that asked about EMV, tokenization, and encryption. Forty-five percent of respondents cited encryption, followed …
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25 June
With New Funding, PayRange Targets Contactless Payments in Vending Machines
With $12 million in new funding, PayRange Inc. wants to place more of its Bluetooth-equipped dongles inside vending machines to enable more consumers to make contactless, and cashless, payments. The funding, announced Thursday by Portland, Ore.-based PayRange, will be used to expand its staff and increase the number of PayRange-equipped …
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24 June
How Its PocketMath Deal Bolsters XpressBuy’s Push for Multiplatform Buy Buttons
While social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest develop so-called buy buttons for the ads they sell, third-party developers are looking at extending the same technology across not only social networks but apps, mobile sites, and even emails. One of the most aggressive of these developers, Santa Clara, Calif.-based XpressBuy …
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24 June
COMMENTARY: Common Errors in Merchant Funding And How To Fix Them
As I see it, there are three main areas of vulnerability for merchant cash-advance (MCA) providers: 1. Incorrectly assessing the risk. What systems do you have in place for being able to analyze and manage your risk? Many MCA funders come into the market with six months’ runway and then …
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23 June
Canadian Parliament Report Recommends a ‘Light Touch’ in Virtual-Currency Regulation
As states and national governments consider regulations for virtual currencies, a new report from a Canadian Senate committee recommends a “light touch” lest regulation stifle a promising young industry. In considering any legislation, regulations or policies, the Canadian federal government should “create an environment that fosters innovation for digital currencies …
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22 June
Money Taps Are Turned on Full for Payments Startups As a Record Year Looms
The gold rush in payments-startup financing that began about a year ago is likely to be even bigger in 2015, according to the latest report from CB Insights, a New York City-based investment-research firm. Last year set a record for startup funding, with $2.23 billion pouring into new payments companies. …
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22 June
Global Payments Set To Debut AmEx’s OptBlue Program for Its Canadian Merchants
Processor Global Payments Inc. says it will offer American Express Co.’s OptBlue merchant-acceptance program to its Canadian merchants beginning June 24. Participation in OptBlue enables merchant acquirers and independent sales organizations to offer AmEx acceptance to small businesses and set the pricing through a one-stop-shopping option when they sell acceptance …
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22 June
Vantiv Wins the U.S. Postal Service’s Merchant-Processing Business
Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. has won one of the biggest retail merchant-processing contracts out there—the U.S. Postal Service’s credit and debit card business, including its USPS.com online component. Counting post offices, branches and substations, the Postal Service has more than 35,000 retail outlets in all 50 states, U.S. territories and …
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22 June
Green Dot Forges a ‘More Certain Path Forward’ With Five-Year Wal-Mart MoneyCard Deal
Green Dot Corp. late Monday removed a big source of uncertainty about its near-term future by announcing a five-year renewal of its contract with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to be both program manager and issuer of the Wal-Mart MoneyCard prepaid product. But while the deal secures a major source of revenue …