Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• China-based Ant Financial Services Group’s $880 million bid for wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. is generating increasing opposition in Congress on national-security grounds, according to press reports from Washington. U.S.-based Euronet Worldwide Inc. last month submitted an unsolicited $1 billion bid for MoneyGram. • Avangate, a subscription-management and e-commerce platform, announced …
April, 2017
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3 April
Co-Op Financial Services Acquires Credit-Union Processor TMG for $100 Million
Co-Op Financial Services, the big credit-union service organization based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., announced Monday that it had acquired Des Moines, Iowa-based payment processor TMG for $100 million. Co-Op had been the minority owner of TMG, until recently known as The Members Group, and bought out the rest of the …
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1 April
The Risky World of Payments Gets Riskier
The bad news about payments risk just keeps on coming. The Anti-Phishing Working Group Inc. reported last month that phishing attacks reached an all-time high in 2016, totaling 1,220,523. That was up fully 65% over 2015, the group says in its latest quarterly report. Another way to look at the …
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1 April
Now There’s an API for Same-Day ACH Processing
When the nation’s automated clearing house network introduced same-day settlement in September, it was only a matter of time before an application programming interface became available to simplify faster clearing. In March, that day arrived with Dwolla Inc.’s announcement that it was commercializing a same-day ACH API. The code, which …
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1 April
Americans Have Yet To Connect With Contactless Cards
In the United States, contactless payments are virtually synonymous with mobile payments. In other countries, contactless payments usually mean tap-and-go transactions with a plastic debit or credit card. In the United Kingdom, for example, spending on contactless cards reached a record £3.4 billion ($4.2 billion at current exchange rates) in …
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1 April
Merchants Take Another Look at Decoupled Debit
Don’t look now, but decoupled-debit programs may be on the verge of a comeback as merchants look for ways to circumvent payment networks and spur loyalty among consumers. That’s the take from a new report, “Decoupled Debit: The Start of Mainstream Adoption?” issued by Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group Inc. …
March, 2017
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31 March
Apple Pay Victory in Australia and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• CORRECTION: The March 30 issue of Digital Transactions News mischaracterized the business in which eProcessing Network LLC engages. It is a payment gateway. DTN regrets the error. • In a victory for Apple Inc. and its Apple Pay mobile-payments service, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission denied a request from four …
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31 March
COMMENTARY: Why Big Banks Shouldn’t Own the Road to Faster Payments
Lately, the Federal Reserve Board has been shepherding a cross-industry effort to build a faster, more efficient, and more secure payments system in the United States. As that commendable effort heads into its home stretch, one big question stands out glaringly, but has largely gone unaddressed: How much influence should …
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31 March
What is the Future of Mobile Wallets? Anticipation and Waiting, Expert Panel Says
As mobile-wallet backers wrestle with the right mix of features and functions—loyalty, offers, and payments—to incentivize consumers and merchants to use their products, they should get accustomed to waiting. That was the word Thursday in Orlando, Fla., from speakers at the 2017 Payments Summit, sponsored by the Secure Technology Alliance. …
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30 March
Payments Pros Confront an IoT Challenge: Securing Devices Without Impeding Usage
With a forecast of 15 billion new devices as part of the Internet of Things potentially coming online as payments devices by 2021, securing these devices, whether they are cars, wearables, or appliances, is emerging as a top concern. “We are seeing a huge increase in inadequately protected devices,” Graeme …
