News

September, 2014

• 18 September

  The Fed Will Leave Its Debit Card Interchange Cap Unchanged for Now

  The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday said it would leave its debit card interchange cap for large issuers unchanged despite finding that some of their important expenses either declined last year or had changed little from levels found by an earlier survey. A major retailer trade group said the findings …
• 18 September

  With 56 Million Cards Compromised, Home Depot’s Data Breach Surpasses Target’s

  Just when you thought retailer data breaches wouldn’t get much bigger, they did. Home-improvement retailer The Home Depot Inc. disclosed Thursday that the breach it confirmed Sept. 8 compromised 56 million payment cards between April and this month. That means Home Depot’s breach affected 40% more cards than the 40 …
• 17 September

  Huge Softcard Coup with Subway Poses No Threat to Startup Paydiant, Top Exec Says

  The telco-controlled mobile-wallet provider Softcard scored a major coup on Tuesday with the announcement that the massive Subway sandwich chain will start accepting its wallet Oct. 1 at its more than 26,000 U.S. locations. When complete, it will be the largest restaurant deployment yet for payments via near-field communication (NFC) …
• 16 September

  PayPal Ad Campaign Stresses Strength in Mobile Security, But Will it BackFire?

    PayPal Inc., the payments arm of eBay Inc., says it will process 1 billion mobile payments in 2014, and this experience means it knows something about mobile-payments security. That’s one message PayPal hopes comes across in a new ad campaign appearing in newspapers and online just days after Apple …
• 15 September

  Capital Prepaid Looks to Extend Prepaid Program Management to Scores of Small Issuers

  The general-purpose prepaid card market is hot, but most smaller financial institutions find it a daunting task to start and run a prepaid program. To fill that gap, Capital Prepaid Services on Monday launched a prepaid Visa card with two small banks as part of a campaign to make prepaid …
• 11 September

  Apple Pay: No Charge for Merchants, But Transaction-Security Fees for Issuers

  Apple Inc.’s introduction of its new Apple Pay service for its soon-to-be released iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch raised a huge number of questions in the payments industry. One of the biggest topics of speculation is just how is Apple going to make money from the service, with combines …
• 10 September

  As Questions Linger, Discover Says ‘Me Too’ to Apple Pay

    Discover Financial Services cardholders will be able to add their payment cards to Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay mobile payment scheme, the card brand confirmed Wednesday. “Discover is in discussions with Apple to be able to add Discover cards to Apple Pay in the future,” a spokesman tells Digital Transactions …
• 10 September

  Apple Pay Looks To Be a Boost for NFC, But Creates a Question Mark for HCE

  Apple Inc.’s new mobile-payment system may be a long-awaited shot in the arm for near-field communication (NFC), but it could also cool off an NFC variant that has caught fire since it emerged only 10 months ago. Apple Pay, which the iconic computer giant unveiled to enthusiastic applause Tuesday, will …
• 9 September

  Braintree’s Decision to Support Bitcoin Pushes Currency Farther Toward Legitimacy

  Braintree Inc.’s arrangement to allow its merchants to accept Bitcoin could significantly further a nascent trend among big merchants to take the digital money. Braintree, which PayPal Inc. acquired a year ago for $800 million, processes payments for such fast-growing merchants as house-rental service Airbnb, restaurant-reservation site OpenTable, and taxi alternative …
• 9 September

  Payment Processors Hold Key Tokenization Role In Apple Pay

    Payment processors First Data Corp. and Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) will have key roles in securing transactions using tokenization technology for payments consumers make with Apple Inc.’s newly announced Apple Pay mobile-payments scheme. The Cupertino, Calif.-based computer giant made the announcement as part of its unveiling Tuesday of …