News

May, 2017

• 1 May

  Ninth Annual Field Guide to Alternative Payments

  

  The increasing commercialization of mobile payments is showing up in a proliferation of so-called Pays from a bevy of banks, tech companies, and merchants. Time was, a cutting-edge alternative-payment service involved entering card or bank-account details into a branded interface on a laptop computer. Mobile payments were nascent, held back …
• 1 May

  Surcharging Ahead

  

  Merchants like programs that cover their credit card acceptance costs. So do ISOs and acquirers, some of which see a big opportunity in programs that help merchants with surcharging. Surcharging for credit card transactions or offering a cash discount may have obvious benefits for merchants, but these programs also carry …
• 1 May

  Why the Secret Sauce Isn’t So Secret Any More

  

  With the rise of APIs and the race for consumer loyalty, payments players are under pressure to innovate as never before. The result? A new openness to outside developers. If anything in the payments business can be said to approximate a company’s crown jewels, it’s the code that controls, uniquely …
• 1 May

  Nonstop Upgrades

  

  The ATM EMV conversion is only partly done, and now deployers are beginning preparations for Windows 10 only a few years after upgrading to Windows 7. ATM deployers can take solace in the fact that their EMV upgrades are going faster than merchants’ conversion to chip card acceptance. But lest …
• 1 May

  Chip Cards Aren’t on the Menu

  

  Restaurants have been slow to bite on EMV. To get adoption percolating, vendors are introducing methods that let customers add a tip after making a payment or pay with tabletop devices. Paying with EMV cards has been an adjustment for the average U.S. consumer. Cards are no longer swiped. They …

April, 2017

• 28 April

  Apple P2P Payments Rumors Surface Again and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Apple Inc. is once again talking to payments-industry players about launching a person-to-person payment service, according to a report on Recode.net, which cited “multiple sources familiar with the talks.” The sources say the service would allow iPhone users to send money to each other. Recode also reports Apple is talking to …
• 27 April

  Financial Institutions Still Looking for Legal Certainty as the Cannabis Industry Grows

  

  Whatever their personal feelings are about marijuana usage, the growth of the legal cannabis industry in many states will force bankers and payments executives to examine the business prospects of serving that industry, according to an executive with a regional automated clearing house association. While marijuana remains illegal under federal …
• 27 April

  Dwolla’s Tokenized ACH Move and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Opponents and proponents of repealing debit card interchange controls known as the Durbin Amendment prepared for a hearing on the Financial CHOICE Act Thursday with dueling press releases. The National Retail Federation, as reported earlier this week by Digital Transactions News, led a meeting of retailers interested in keeping the …
• 27 April

  How the EMV-Fueled Shift of Fraud Online Is Generating Headwinds for Airlines

  

  Merchants and card issuers have been hearing for several years that the advent of EMV chip cards at the point of sale in the United States would drive fraud into card-not-present channels, and now evidence is emerging that this is happening with a vengeance, even with companies like airlines that …
• 27 April

  Opportunities Expand for Airlines To Adopt Mobile Payments, But Challenges Persist

  

  Mobile payments are on the radar for many airline executives. Fully 72% of North American airline executives responsible for revenue, finance, payments, and commerce, said the increase in customers using mobile payments and mobile banking is a factor in deploying digital wallets and alternative-payment methods, finds a new survey from …