Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
With just 55 days to go, separate studies released this week show that the Oct. 1 target date for the U.S. to adopt the EMV chip card standard is looking more and more like a psychological deadline than a real one. Both merchants and credit and debit card issuers are …
Read More »In Health-Care Payments, EMV May Be a Driver, But Dodging PCI Is the Benefit
No category of payment-card-accepting merchants, including health-care providers, is immune from the EMV liability shift coming Oct. 1. Yet, some payments providers specializing in servicing clinics and hospitals say there is a lack of understanding among their clients that goes beyond what acquirers have found in other merchant categories. “Health …
Read More »It May Be POS Alphabet Soup, But It’s Getting Easier for ISVs To Assume ISO Functions
By John Stewart With the business of selling merchant accounts growing more technology-based every day, how are processors going to recruit new independent sales organizations that have the necessary expertise? For at least some processors, the answer lies in inducing independent software vendors, known as ISVs, to become ISOs as …
Read More »POS Systems Developers Face Unique EMV Certification Challenges
As the U.S. payment card industry hurtles toward its EMV destiny approaching on Oct. 1, the process for certifying EMV-compliant point-of-sale terminals is moving along well, albeit with one exception. Point-of-sale systems, which are available in a myriad of configurations with software from one company, hardware from another and …
Read More »The Payments Unicorn List Drops by One—But Investor Cash Is Far From Drying up
By John Stewart It is a commonplace notion that unicorns are to be encountered only in myth. But in the world of venture capital, they are becoming increasingly numerous. While it was once considered extremely rare for a privately held startup to achieve a $1 billion-plus valuation, there are now …
Read More »Eye on EMV: Unprepared Merchants in for a ‘Big Surprise;’ U.S. Conversion Lifts Ingenico
By Jim Daly Some merchant categories such as restaurants are moving slowly into EMV chip card acceptance ahead of the looming Oct. 1 liability shift because they experience little of the fraud EMV cards are intended to prevent, while others are going to find losses “winging back at them,” executives …
Read More »U.S. Mobile POS Installations Forecasted To Reach 17.4 Million by 2019
Installations of mobile point-of-sale devices in the United States and Canada will hit 17.4 million in four years, forecasts 451 Research in its “Mobile Point of Sale: Smart Devices Earn a Growing Share of Global Payment Acceptance” report released Thursday. If it proves accurate, that forecast will yield a 155.9% …
Read More »U.S. EMV Conversion Boosts First Data’s Acquiring and Issuing Segments
By Jim Daly First Data Corp. on Wednesday reported modest second-quarter growth in its merchant-acquiring and issuer-processing segments thanks in part to the U.S. conversion to EMV chip card payments and reduced expense growth. In all, First Data reported a net loss of $26 million, a 24% improvement from the …
Read More »How a Confidential IPO Could Help Square Frame Its Long-Term Strategy
Square Inc.’s future may include public ownership if reports late last week that it filed for a confidential initial public offering are correct. Both BloombergBusiness and The Wall Street Journal reported the filing, permitted under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which enables companies with less than $1 billion …
Read More »Just $50 in Fraud Would Motivate 32% of Small Businesses To Adopt EMV
What will it take to get small businesses to accept EMV payment cards? Apparently $50 in fraud charges will motivate 32% of them to install EMV-capable point-of-sale terminals. That’s the finding from a survey released Thursday by Cayan, a Boston-based payments company. While 32% said $50 when asked what amount …
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