Featured

August, 2018

• 30 August

  First It Was Trading Through Cash App. Now Square Patents a Network for Crypto Acceptance

  

  The business of getting merchants to accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has started to attract independent sales organizations and payments-tech firms alike, and now Square Inc. has jumped in with a proposed service that some experts say could help the payments-technology powerhouse grab a share of online volume. The U.S. Patent …
• 22 August

  Why the Electronic Transactions Association Is Focusing on Canada

  

  In response to Canada’s moves to introduce further regulation of its payments industry, the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Transactions Association said this week it is “expanding” its advocacy effort into that country. So far, the ETA’s effort includes hiring a lobbyist to represent the interests of Canadian payments companies and U.S. …
• 21 August

  General-Purpose Contactless Payments Continue To Struggle on U.S. Transit Systems

  

  Contactless fare payments are still booming on London’s massive public-transportation network, but it’s a different story in the United States despite years of talk and testing. The latest figures from Transport for London, the agency that oversees the United Kingdom capital city’s subways and buses, show an average of 1.48 …
• 17 August

  Dual-Message Interchange for Regulated Debit Card Issuers Declined in 2017, the Fed Reports

  

  Interchange on debit card transactions has changed relatively little in the nearly seven years since the Durbin Amendment to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act took effect, but a Federal Reserve report notes one small but interesting recent change. The average interchange fee in 2017 for dual-message transactions on debit cards regulated …
• 15 August

  Change at Payment Alliance International As Three Top Execs, Including Two Cofounders, Exit

  

  Payment Alliance International, the Louisville, Ky.-based ATM operator, is in the midst of a strategic shift, one that has seen three top executives resign from the firm. John J. Leehy III, president and chief executive, Greg Sahrmann, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Donna Embry, chief payments advisor, …
• 14 August

  Proposed Tariffs on Chinese Goods Draw More Opposition From the Payments Industry

  

  The escalating U.S.-China trade war is generating calls for a truce from the payments industry. Most recently, the ATM Industry Association announced its opposition to planned U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, calling them a “threat to business.” ATMIA members are expected to testify at a tariff hearing next week in …
• 6 August

  Bitcoin Cash One Year Later: Cheaper Than Bitcoin, But Still Number 4 on the Hit Parade

  

  One year after the hard fork that created it, Bitcoin Cash is in some ways mimicking the digital currency it was spawned from. Bitcoin Cash’s price at $693 Monday morning has slid by about $1,000 in the past three months, according to CoinMarketCap.com. And it’s well under the $4,091 peak …
• 3 August

  On a Hot Streak, the ACH Network Has Racked up 5%-Plus Growth in 12 of the Last 14 Quarters

  

  The growth surge at the nation’s automated clearing house network shows no signs of slowing down. The payments system handled 5.68 billion transactions in the quarter ended June 30, a 6.2% increase year-over-year, according to numbers from Herndon, Va.-based NACHA, the network’s governing body. The network has now notched growth …

July, 2018

• 30 July

  Kroger’s Foods Co Lobs a Grenade at Visa in the Ongoing Guerrilla War Over Card-Acceptance Costs

  

  Citing acceptance costs, Foods Co, a California unit of leading supermarket chain The Kroger Co., says it will stop accepting Visa credit cards Aug. 14 at 26 stores. “Foods Co is discontinuing the acceptance of Visa credit cards to save on the high costs associated with the credit card company’s …
• 27 July

  ISOs Urged To Begin Thinking Beyond Pure Profit

  

  The independent sales organization business is one that has spawned multimillion-dollar fortunes for numerous entrepreneurs. But perhaps it’s time for the industry to begin thinking beyond pure profit, merchant-acquiring executives suggested Thursday. The executives participated in a panel dubbed “Payments Doing Good” at the MidWest Acquirers Association annual conference in …