News

December, 2019

• 2 December

  Pandora’s 8-Hour POS Issue and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/2/19

  

  Jewelry retailer Pandora said it is standing by its 2019 sales guidance despite an eight-hour point-of-sale issue at U.S. and Canadian stores on Black Friday.American Express Co. said its Small Business Saturday promotion, which occurred Nov. 30, achieved a record with an estimated $19.6 billion in spending.With fewer people carrying cash, the Salvation …

November, 2019

• 27 November

  Smart Phones in Hand, Consumers Prep for a Busy Holiday Shopping Season

  

  Expect more consumers to wield their smart phones for their holiday shopping this year. Fully 70% of consumers in the Deloitte 2019 Holiday Retail Survey plan to make a holiday purchase using a smart phone. That’s up from 67% in 2018 and from 59% in 2017. A separate Visa Inc. …
• 27 November

  Stolen Card Data Shows up in Joker’s Stash and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/27/19

  

  Customer data from 4 million payment cards stolen in breaches at four restaurant chains has gone up for sale in the Joker’s Stash underground bazaar, KrebsOnSecurity reported. The breaches occurred at nearly half the 1,750 total locations of Krystal, Moe’s Southwest Grill, McAlister’s Deli and Schlotzsky’s, the latter three of which are owned by …
• 27 November

  COMMENTARY: Overcoming Complex Payment Challenges in the Platform Economy

  

  With the popularity of sharing-economy models, payments have become infinitely more complex. Sharing platforms certainly provide more value to consumers than pure-play, single-merchant-owned e-commerce sites, but they come with more challenges.  By 2021, the platform economy will welcome over 86 million users. That means that all over the world, 86 …
• 26 November

  Retail ATMs, Prepaid Cards Partially Fill Growing Void as Banks Close Rural Branches

  

  Banks have closed thousands of branches in recent years, hitting rural America especially hard and leaving retail ATMs, prepaid cards, and services from non-bank providers to fill the void, according to a new Federal Reserve report. The “Perspectives from Main Street: Bank Branch Access in Rural Communities” report released Monday …
• 26 November

  Behind Galileo’s Do-It-Yourself Approach To Fast Funding Mated To Instant Debit Cards

  

  Sitting in a meeting in New York City, Clay Wilkes put his company’s latest innovation to the test. “We onboarded a company, funded the master funding account, created an individual account, and moved funds from the master funding account, and bought a gift card on Amazon,” he recalls. “Someone in …
• 26 November

  Klarna Notes Growth and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/26/19

  

  Installment-payments provider Klarna said it added 60,000 merchants to its network in 2019. More than 190,000 merchants offer Klarna as a payment option now. The number of monthly U.S. active users of the Klarna app, which enables them to shop with any store or brand online, increased almost 160% from July through September.Core-banking …
• 25 November

  MoneyGram Expands Blockchain Services as Ripple Invests Another $20 Million

  

  Following up on a $30-million investment in June, blockchain-services provider Ripple Labs Inc. has made another $20-million equity investment in wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc., making Ripple the owner of nearly 10% of MoneyGram’s common stock. Announced Monday, the new investment is no surprise. The companies indicated in June it …
• 25 November

  Discover Says Its Cardholders Can Use Their Rewards to Pay When Checking out With PayPal

  

  The major payment card networks have long since come to terms with PayPal Holdings Inc., and now they’re finding ways to put that newfound friendship to use in burnishing their brands with cardholders. The latest example surfaced Monday with an announcement from Discover Financial Services that Discover cardholders can use …
• 25 November

  FIS Adds P2P Tool and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/25/19

  

  Processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) announced it has integrated IBM Corp.’s Safer Payments tool for its peer-to-peer payments products. Safer Payments relies on artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through transactions for signs of fraud.Catch Hospitality Group, which operates the Catch NYC and Catch Steak restaurants, said it discovered malware on …