June, 2019

• 1 June

  PayPal Has 40 Million Reasons to Solve Its Venmo Puzzle

  

  There’s much more to PayPal Holdings Inc. than Venmo, but that’s where the payments industry’s spotlight has shone in recent years. Still, in spite of all the attention it gets, Venmo had always kept one thing secret: how many active users it has. Late in April, PayPal lifted the veil. …
• 1 June

  Contactless: Connecting?

  

  The conditions for the widespread adoption of contactless payments using chip cards are in place, asserts a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. But when that will happen and what will trigger it are unknown in the Fed report, “Tap to Pay: Will Contactless Cards Pave the Way …

May, 2019

• 1 May

  Security Notes: Double Anonymous (Digital) Payment

  

  Materialized cash projects its own integrity, allowing two strangers to exchange value and never know who they are dealing with. This two-way anonymity endows cash traders with a sense of dignity, privacy, and freedom. When money turned digital, this double anonymity was lost. So now, all your purchases are cataloged …
• 1 May

  How Apple Card Pushes Digital Authentication—And Apple Pay

  

  Apple Inc.’s new Apple Card is another push from the computing giant to move payments into a digital realm under Apple’s control, according to analysts. Apple last month announced the card, which bears a Mastercard Inc. brand and will be issued by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The product, which eschews …
• 1 May

  A Surprising Jump in ACH Fraud

  

  Which payment method holds the dubious distinction of racking up the fastest growth in fraud last year? According to the latest annual fraud report from the Association for Financial Professionals, it’s debits and credits on the automated clearing house network. In fact, the ACH was the only payment method examined …

April, 2019

• 1 April

  Security Notes: The Use And Abuse of AI

  

  Some years ago, I hired a young chap who right away lifted a heavy administrative burden off my shoulders. In a short while, he also came up with some good design ideas, and within a year he was correcting my coding. With a heavy heart, I realized I had unwittingly …
• 1 April

  Can Banks Do More Than Stall Square’s Bank Application?

  

  Other commercial companies have failed in their efforts to establish an industrial loan corporation, a form of bank, but much to banks’ distress, Square Inc. very well could prove to be the exception. “Fighting the ILC designation is a good way for the banks to slow a dangerous competitor, but …
• 1 April

  The Payments M&A Party Just Got Wilder

  

  This one wasn’t hard to predict. Observers said Fiserv Inc.’s $22 billion bid for mega-processor First Data Corp. in January would trigger a wave of mergers in the payments industry—and sure enough, along came Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on March 18 with a $43-billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire …

March, 2019

• 1 March

  Security Notes: Re-Materializing Digital Money

  

  Minting money has become a mouse click in the Federal Reserve’s computer. Ninety percent of circulated funds is never materialized in either coins or bank notes. And the recent craze for cryptocurrencies further cements the de-materialization of money. The advantages of digital currency are clear and numerous: it stores on …
• 1 March

  Does Cash Need Legal Protection in Stores?

  

  Efforts to ban cashless stores are afoot in New Jersey and some of the nation’s largest cities, including New York. But does cash really need legal protection from payment cards and mobile wallets? That’s the question public officials as well as payments and retail executives are mulling. Opponents of cashless …