About 60% of the nation’s approximately 450,000 ATMs can now accept EMV chip cards, according to industry executives familiar with the years-long process of transitioning from magnetic-stripe cards. “We look at true chip transactions that are coming from terminals,” says Bruce Owens, vice president of product for the North American …
Read More »ACH Volume Growth Again Surpasses 5% To Hit 25.6 Billion Transactions in 2016
Automated clearing house volume grew by more than 1 billion transactions in 2016, ACH network governing body NACHA reported this week. Herndon, Va.-based NACHA says traffic on the network, which connects virtually all U.S. financial institutions, hit 25.6 billion transactions, up 5.3% from 2015. That grand total includes on-us transactions. …
Read More »Ant Financial Sets ‘The Record Straight’ About Its Fight With Euronet for MoneyGram
China-based Ant Financial Services Group, which has a deal to buy MoneyGram International Inc. for $880 million, on Wednesday fired back at Euronet Worldwide Inc. as the two firms fight for the No. 2 U.S.-based wire-transfer provider. Euronet last month submitted an unsolicited $1 billion bid for MoneyGram and has …
Read More »OptBlue Acquirers Signed 1 Million Small Merchants for AmEx in 2016
Bank card merchant acquirers participating in American Express Co.’s OptBlue program signed 1 million small businesses for AmEx acceptance last year, an AmEx executive tells Digital Transactions News. The push came as New York City-based AmEx drives toward chief executive Kenneth I. Chenault’s goal of having AmEx’s merchant base reach …
Read More »How the Growing Mobile-Ordering Phenomenon Is Creating Opportunities for Payment Firms
Starbucks Corp. showcased it, and now more and more restaurants are adding mobile order-ahead and payment services in an effort to generate new business—and payments firms are only too happy to help them. “Restaurants and other retail merchants are realizing that mobile order ahead is a new sales channel with …
Read More »Bill Would Fund Trump’s Border Wall With a 2% Tax on Remittances to 42 Jurisdictions
While President Donald J. Trump has promised to build a wall along the southern U.S. border to stop illegal immigrants and have Mexico pay for it, an Alabama Congressman’s bill would provide financial support from people in the U.S. sending funds to Mexico and 41 other countries or territories. And …
Read More »Criminals Hit More Firms in 2016 as Check, ACH Debit, and Email Fraud Attempts Rose
Nearly three-fourths of corporate treasury and finance executives say their organizations were hit by actual or attempted payment fraud in 2016, with check, automated clearing house debit, and email fraud attempts all rising, according to the Association for Financial Professionals’ ninth annual payments fraud survey. Some 74% of respondents said …
Read More »Despite Hundreds of Players, Just a Few Processors Dominate the Acquiring Industry
Consulting firm The Strawhecker Group is out with its 2016 rankings of U.S. merchant acquirers, and they show that 240 acquirers and independent sales organizations processed more than $5 trillion in payment volume. The 10 biggest acquirers accounted for 80% of that volume. Topping the list is JPMorgan Chase & …
Read More »Co-Op Financial Services Acquires Credit-Union Processor TMG for $100 Million
Co-Op Financial Services, the big credit-union service organization based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., announced Monday that it had acquired Des Moines, Iowa-based payment processor TMG for $100 million. Co-Op had been the minority owner of TMG, until recently known as The Members Group, and bought out the rest of the …
Read More »Americans Have Yet To Connect With Contactless Cards
In the United States, contactless payments are virtually synonymous with mobile payments. In other countries, contactless payments usually mean tap-and-go transactions with a plastic debit or credit card. In the United Kingdom, for example, spending on contactless cards reached a record £3.4 billion ($4.2 billion at current exchange rates) in …
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