News

January, 2015

• 29 January

  Visa Chief Scharf Holds out Digital Payments As Olive Branch to Fee-Weary Retailers

  In the wake of an important Supreme Court decision early last week, Visa Inc.’s chief executive Thursday afternoon sounded a conciliatory note on the company’s often fraught relations with merchants and touted Visa’s digital-payments initiatives as a way of bringing more value to retailers in return for the fees they …
• 27 January

  As M-Commerce Increases, So Too Does Fraud, But Disproportionately: Study

  As mobile commerce becomes ever more important to merchants, so too does the number of mobile payments made via apps and Web sites viewed on smart phones and tablets. Along with this growth, however, is a disproportionate increase in fraud as a percent of m-commerce revenue, finds the “2014 LexisNexis …
• 27 January

  Observers Applaud Fed’s Payments Plan, But Lament Slow Pace of Progress

  Now that the Federal Reserve has released its plan for faster payments in the United States, observers are applauding the effort while expressing some impatience with what they see as the central bank’s overly deliberate approach. “The Fed is indeed headed in the right direction, but it is a slow …
• 27 January

  Apple CEO Pronounces Apple Pay’s ‘First Inning’ a Success, but Gives Few Details

  Apple Inc. chief executive Tim Cook said Tuesday afternoon that Apple’s new Apple Pay mobile-payment service is doing well three months after its launch, but he gave few details during the company’s latest quarterly earnings call. “Apple Pay is off to a very strong start,” Cook said in his opening …
• 26 January

  The Fed Releases Strategies, Plans for Faster Payments, Looks for Industry Participation

  In a blueprint released Monday for a faster and more secure U.S. payments system, the Federal Reserve called for industry task forces to form early this year and for a “framework” to emerge by 2016 to set rules for near real-time payments. The banking regulator also set out five broad, …
• 26 January

  C-Store Chain Wawa Debuts a Mobile Payments And Rewards App

    Starbucks Corp. has proven that consumer apps for buying coffee are becoming more popular, and now convenience stores have joined in with c-store chain Wawa Inc. launching its mobile-payments and rewards app. To use the payment function of the Wawa app, which is available for iOS and Android smart …
• 23 January

  Hoping to Avoid ‘Or Else,’ Card Networks and the PCI Council Step Up Compliance Efforts

  The private sector often lives in fear of government regulation, but the payment card industry’s indigenous regulators are piling on new disclosure, monitoring and security requirements for merchant acquirers, panelists said Wednesday at the Northeast Acquirers Association (NEAA) annual conference in Boston. While many of the new rules are meant …
• 23 January

  Inexperience Plus Product Restrictions Likely Killed Amazon Wallet, Analysts Say

  The newness of mobile payments likely was a contributing factor to Amazon.com Inc.’s decision this week to pull the plug on its six-month-old Amazon Wallet. That’s the theory suggested by Brian Kilcourse, managing partner at RSR Research LLC, a Miami-based retail advisory firm. Amazon.com launched Amazon Wallet in July, selling …
• 22 January

  Eye on Earnings: Card Volume Up for AmEx And Discover, But AmEx To Cut Jobs

  American Express Co. reported $182.5 billion in U.S. card-billed business in the fourth quarter, up 7.9% from $169.1 billion a year earlier, and discount-fee revenues increased 1.8% to $4.99 billion from $4.90 billion. The average worldwide discount rate, however, decreased three basis points to 2.45% of the sale. American Express …
• 22 January

  Despite Top Court’s Rebuff, Merchants Seek Debit Relief With Fed’s Own Data

  The U.S. Supreme Court may have rebuffed merchants seeking to cut debit card transaction costs, but that doesn’t mean they’re entirely out of options. On Thursday, the Merchant Advisory Group, a Minneapolis-based trade group that counts big-box stores and airlines among its 175 members, released a 16-page white paper using …