News

January, 2017

• 30 January

  Momentum Is Building for Mobile Wallets Overseas—And Also in the U.S., Report Says

  

  Mobile wallets have struggled in the United States to win consumer adoption and usage, but worldwide the technology is growing smartly. And even in the U.S. market, it’s expected to pick up momentum. That’s according to a report issued Monday by U.K.-based Juniper Research. The firm estimates global payments volume …
• 30 January

  Eye on Mobile: Vantiv To Resell CardFlight mPOS; USAePay Cinches Certifications

  

  Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. has agreed to offer a mobile point-of-sale platform from CardFlight Inc. The platform, called SwipeSimple, includes an EMV reader, a mobile app for iOS and Android, and a back-office reporting portal. New York-based CardFlight says the devices will be co-branded with Vantiv’s branding and will be …
• 30 January

  Green Dot May Be Interested in UniRush and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Bloomberg reported that prepaid card services provider Green Dot Corp. is in talks to buy UniRush, a smaller competitor co-founded by Russell Simmons, the music-industry entrepreneur behind the rap label Def Jam. • In another possible deal, U.K.-based accounting and payroll software firm Sage Group plc is mulling a sale of its U.S. …
• 27 January

  More Than 400 Million Visa EMV Cards Issued and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Coffee giant Starbucks Corp. reported its Mobile Order and Pay feature, which allows customers to order and pay on their mobile phone and then pick up the order later without waiting, accounted for 7% of all transactions in U.S. company-operated stores in the fourth quarter, up from 3% a year earlier. …
• 27 January

  TMS Adds Its Groovv POS System to Its Free-Hardware Program for Merchants And ISOs

  

  Independent sales organization Total Merchant Services Inc. has added its Groovv POS system to its free hardware program, a move that places all of its products in the program. Prior to this week’s announcement, only point-of-sale terminals were part of the program, says Woodland Hills, Calif.-based TMS. This should make it …
• 26 January

  Credit Cards Compromised in 19% of Data Breaches, Researchers Find

  

  Credit card numbers were involved in just under one-fifth of the 4,000-plus data breaches worldwide reported in 2016, data-security services provider Risk Based Security Inc. reported Wednesday. RBS says the latest release of its annual Data Breach QuickView found that 4,149 data breaches occurred or became publicly known in 2016, …
• 26 January

  Ant Financial, Backer of Alipay, Shells out $880 Million for No. 2 U.S. Money Transmitter MoneyGram

  

  The company behind the rapidly growing Alipay mobile-payment service is acquiring the second-largest U.S. based money-transfer company. China-based Ant Financial Services Group’s deal to buy Dallas-based MoneyGram International Inc. for $880 million in cash will likely close some time in the second half of the year , according to an …
• 26 January

  TSYS in FTC Settlement Talks Over NetSpend and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) reported that it is talking with the Federal Trade Commission to settle the FTC’s November lawsuit accusing TSYS’s NetSpend prepaid card unit of deceptively marketing reloadable prepaid cards. TSYS took a $13 million charge in the fourth quarter in connection with the settlement talks. • Newtek …
• 26 January

  More Than 400 Million Visa Cards Bear EMV Chips As U.S. EMV Acceptance Grows

  

  The total number of Visa Inc. credit and debit cards bearing an EMV chip numbered 408.1 million at the end of December, Visa announced Thursday. That’s a 2.1% increase from the 399.9 million tally at the end of November. Of the total, 219.4 million are debit cards and 188.7 million …
• 26 January

  The Fed’s Faster Payments Task Force Nears the End of Its Proposal Reviews

  

  The Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force is in the final stages of reviewing 19 proposals to speed up U.S. electronic payments, Fed executives tell Digital Transactions News. The faster-payments initiative is part of the Fed’s broader Payment System Improvement project that also addresses security and efficiency issues. The Fed …