Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
By Jim Daly and Kevin Woodward American Express Co. saw total revenues and profits decline by 4% in the second quarter, but its OptBlue program has added 700,000 small merchants this year. Meanwhile, Discover Financial Services reported late Wednesday that its Pulse volume fell after losing a large issuer. New …
Read More »Visa Posts 25% Profit Increase as U.S. Credit and Debit Volumes Climb
A tepid world economy didn’t stop Visa Inc. from posting an 8% increase in global transaction volume and a 25% jump in net income for the quarter ended June 30. The leading payment card network on Thursday reported operating revenues of $3.52 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2015, …
Read More »Backpage.com Sues Cook County Sheriff in Payment Card Acceptance Dispute
The owner of online classified-advertising portal Backpage.com is suing the sheriff of Cook County, Ill., in federal court for pressuring payment card networks to ban card purchases in Backpage’s adult section. The lawsuit filed Tuesday by Backpage.Com LLC in U.S. District Court in Chicago alleges Sheriff Thomas J. Dart engaged …
Read More »First Data Files for Its Long-Awaited IPO, Seeks To Pay Down Debt
First Data Corp. filed a registration statement Monday for an initial public stock offering, a long-anticipated move that the highly leveraged payment processor expects will help reduce its debt. The statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission does not say how many shares First Data plans to issue or …
Read More »In the Face of Increasing Regulation, the ETA Boosts Its Washington Presence
The Electronic Transactions Association, the national merchant-acquiring trade group, is ramping up its presence on Capitol Hill to stem the increasing regulation of the payments industry. The Washington, D.C.-based ETA recently spawned the creation of so-called payments caucuses in both the Senate and House of Representatives, chief executive Jason Oxman …
Read More »MWAA Wrapup: Where ISOs Should Butter Their Bread; The Fed on Faster Payments
The annual MidWest Acquirers Conference concluded Thursday in Chicago with a series of sessions addressing several hot-button payments issues. Here’s a rundown of the more salient remarks: —Whither the independent sales organization? With the fundamentals of the acquiring business rapidly turning towards mobile and cloud-based technology, ISOs are finding themselves …
Read More »Chastened ISO Execs Caution Colleagues on How To Avoid Regulators’ Ire
Two independent sales organization executives who ran afoul of government regulators cautioned their industry colleagues Thursday on how to stay out of trouble. The warnings came during a session at the MidWest Acquirers Association (MWAA) annual conference in Chicago titled “You, Me and the FTC: Personal Stories From Being in …
Read More »EMV and Updated PCI Rules Present Opportunities for ISOs ‘To Gain or Lose Business’
With the impending EMV chip card liability shift on Oct. 1 and the recent establishment of the newest version of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI), independent sales organizations are at a critical juncture, according to a veteran industry executive. “This is an opportunity for ISOs to gain or …
Read More »Eye on Earnings: Chase, Wells Report Latest Merchant-Acquiring Numbers
JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported Tuesday that charge volume in its massive merchant-processing business grew 12% in the second quarter, and Wells Fargo & Co. said its merchant-related fee income rose 10%. New York City-based JPMorgan Chase said payment volume in its Chase Commerce Solutions unit totaled $234.1 billion versus $209 …
Read More »Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Ease Marijuana Businesses’ Access to Banking Services
A bill introduced Thursday with bipartisan backing in the U.S. Senate would prevent federal regulators from cracking down on banks that provide financial services to legal marijuana businesses. The bill, similar to one pending in the House of Representatives, aims to rectify the lack of access many recreational and medicinal …
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