Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
By John Stewart It was bad, but it could have been much worse. Just as the celebrated Cyber Monday online-shopping frenzy was gearing up to full blast, PayPal Holdings Inc.’s payment service, a major processor for e-commerce, began hiccupping. Merchants reported problems with processing orders and customers complained about long …
Read More »Visa Says It’s ‘Extremely Encouraged’ by Results From EMV’s First Official Month
Visa Inc. on Tuesday reported U.S. EMV chip card statistics for October, the first month in which the payment card networks’ EMV liability shifts for point-of-sale transactions took effect. The numbers show EMV’s footprint is still small, but growing rapidly. There are now 180.6 million Visa-branded chip cards in the …
Read More »San Francisco Sues AmEx Alleging Unfair Competitive Practices
By Kevin Woodward The City Attorney for San Francisco has filed suit in California Superior Court against American Express Co., alleging the card brand continues to restrain merchants from steering consumers to other payment options. Filed Nov. 6, the suit seeks $2,500 per violation, which City Attorney Dennis J. Herrera …
Read More »In a First for Debit Networks, Shazam Adds a Mobile Feature to Shut off Lost Or Stolen Cards
By John Stewart In the wake of the arrival of EMV chip cards and ahead of the holiday shopping rush, the Shazam debit network has launched a mobile feature that lets cardholders disable their debit cards should they be lost or stolen. While networks like Discover Financial Services have advertised …
Read More »Blackstone Invests $820 Million in NCR, but Will the Deal Enhance NCR’s Competitiveness?
Leading U.S.-based ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. announced Thursday that affiliates of private-equity firm The Blackstone Group L.P. will invest $820 million into the company for a 17% stake. NCR says it will use the investment to help fund a $1 billion share repurchase and speed its transformation into an integrated …
Read More »Credit Unions Prepping for Samsung Pay, Android Pay As Samsung Offers $50 to New Users
By Kevin Woodward With no shortage of mobile-payments options available to users, backers of Android Pay and Samsung Pay are trying to entice consumers by making their services more broadly available and by offering rebates. Institutions using The Members Group, a credit-union service organization, soon will be able to enroll …
Read More »Following Skrill Acquisition, Optimal Payments Changes Its Name to Paysafe
Merchant processor Optimal Payments Plc announced it has changed its name to Paysafe Group Plc. The move reflects the company’s direction following the closing of its Skrill acquisition in August. The deal bolstered the company’s stake in digital wallets. “This was a major milestone for the company, and although we …
Read More »Green Dot Continues Clawing Back From Its MoneyPak Closure
Prepaid card issuer and services provider Green Dot Corp. on Thursday said it is over the hump of business lost when it closed its popular MoneyPak reload product early this year. MoneyPak was a long-established product that Pasadena, Calif.-based Green Dot sold in stores to enable the reloading of prepaid …
Read More »Visa And MasterCard Remain Top Dogs in Global Acceptance, But China Is Rising Fast
Just as Visa Inc. prepares to swallow up the 38-country Visa Europe system, at least one market researcher has released a report expressing some doubt about how long Visa and its bank card rival, MasterCard Inc., will be able to maintain their share of card-accepting merchants around the world. On …
Read More »How MCX’s Deals with Chase Pay And BIM Networks Help Fill a Tender Gap in CurrentC
With two strokes of the pen, Merchant Customer Exchange LLC has addressed one glaring weakness in its mobile wallet. By announcing a deal this week with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s brand-new Chase Pay mobile-payments service and two weeks ago with a little-known New York City-based app provider called BIM Networks …
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