Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The new mobile-payments network being developed by retailers went public on Wednesday with its name, Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, and the identities of 15 initial merchant-investors. But, five months after merchants first revealed plans to build an alternative to the major card networks as mobile payments take hold in …
Read More »Same-Day ACH Idea Could Stage a Comeback, Despite Big-Bank Opposition
A proposal to change the rules of the automated clearing house network to allow faster clearing times, which last Friday fell short of the votes needed to be enacted, is likely to be resurrected in some form, experts polled by Digital Transactions say. “I don’t think it’s dead, but it’s …
Read More »Acculynk Lands American Airlines, Cites Momentum for Online PIN Debit
Acculynk Inc., which on Wednesday announced it has signed up American Airlines Inc., says the recruitment of its largest merchant yet indicates stronger interest among online retailers in accepting PIN debit transactions. Indeed, Ashish Bahl, chairman and chief executive of the Atlanta-based company, tells Digital Transactions News it expects to …
Read More »ViVOtech Sells Hardware Unit To Concentrate on NFC Software
ViVOtech Inc., a pioneer in contactless payments and near-field communication (NFC) technology, disclosed Monday that it sold its card-reader business to ID Tech, a manufacturer of smart card readers and point-of-sale hardware and identity-verification products. The subject of reports last week that it was laying off people and possibly going …
Read More »Eye on Mobile: Nearly Half of Smart Phone Users Access Shopping Apps
Nearly half of U.S. smart-phone users, or more than 45 million people, tapped a shopping application in June, according to data released on Monday. The leading app was that of eBay Inc., which attracted almost 13.2 million unique users, according to the data from New York City-based researcher The Nielsen …
Read More »A $9 Million Infusion Has Mobile Payments Startup LevelUp Thinking Big
Armed with $9 million in new funding, mobile-payments startup LevelUp plans to use the capital infusion to expand its sales force and build out new solutions to improve the merchant experience. Boston-based LevelUp is launching a remote sales team that will sign and service merchants outside the company’s 10 primary …
Read More »Residual-Based Lending Emerges As Funding Alternative for ISOs
A recent string of deals with processors to offer funding to their independent sales organizations has expanded Arlington, Va.-based startup Super G Funding LLC’s reach as a lender. Super G, which was founded in 2009 and has made loans totaling $10 million to about 80 ISOs, is one of only …
Read More »Virtual Gift Card Player Giftango Looks to Enter Broader Open-Loop Market
Giftango Corp., a major behind-the-scenes player in electronic gift cards, is preparing to move into the fast-growing world of open-loop prepaid cards. n A first step along that road was reached this week when Portland, Ore.-based Giftango achieved so-called Level 1 certification under the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI). …
Read More »PayPal Says It Will Process Payments for GE’s Electric-Vehicle Charging Stations
PayPal Inc. announced on Thursday it will process payments when owners of electric vehicles charge up their cars at charging stations maintained by GE Industrial Solutions, a unit of General Electric Co. In what amounts to yet another venture into the physical point of sale for PayPal, the e-commerce processing …
Read More »Heartland Goes To School for New Payment Opportunities
School lunches often draw fire from students, who want tastier fare, and parents and nutritionists, who want healthier meals. But for merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc., food service in schools is proving to be a profitable new payments niche. Princeton, N.J.-based Heartland on Monday said it had acquired LunchByte …
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