News

May, 2015

• 18 May

  New Devices, New Terminals, New Programs Will Drive In-Store M-Payments, Report Says

  By John Stewart Left for dead as recently as two years ago, the concept of mobile payments in physical stores is staging a remarkable resurrection. The signs are everywhere. In April, PayPal Inc. said it will adopt near-field communication (NFC) after years of mocking the technology, which enables wave-and-pay transactions …
• 18 May

  Restaurants Most Likely To Adopt Mobile Payments, Consumers Say in a Survey

  Consumers expect restaurants to be the top merchant type to adopt mobile payments, especially as they envision it simplifying the payment process. That’s the finding of a survey from independent sales organization Harbortouch Payments LLC, which also products point-of-sale products for restaurants and other merchants. In the survey of 1,000 …
• 18 May

  E-Commerce Sales Hit 7% of Retail Volume for the First Time

  Electronic commerce hit a milestone in the first quarter by accounting for 7% of total retail sales for the first time, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau reported Friday. Preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau pegged seasonally adjusted retail sales at $1.15 trillion, with e-commerce totaling $80.3 billion. In 2014’s …
• 15 May

  EMV for Small Merchants Is a Hard Sell, But It’s Easier With The Right Approach

  Selling payments services to small merchants is never easy. Now, throw in EMV and its attendant complications, add in merchant ignorance of the technology, and the sales pitch gets more complex. With the impending liability shift set for Oct. 1, independent sales organizations, acquirers, processors, and banks are scrambling to …
• 15 May

  Global Payments Seeks Dismissal of the CFPB’s ‘Unprecedented’ Accusations

  By Jim Daly Global Payments Inc., the biggest processor swept up in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s April lawsuit against allegedly fraudulent debt collectors, came out with guns blazing Thursday in its first response to the CFPB’s complaint. “The CFPB’s attempt to hold Global [Payments] responsible for the actions of …
• 14 May

  COMMENTARY: For Some Banks, Prepaid Cards Aren’t Worth New Regulatory Compliance Costs

  By Paul Schaus Considering new regulations on general-purpose prepaid cards, is it worth it for banks to still be in the business? The answer is: Maybe not. If banks have enough customers who are underbanked or unbanked, as well people just on a tight budget clamoring for prepaid cards, prepaid …
• 13 May

  When It Comes to Acquirer Revenue, It Pays To Be Big—Just Not Too Big

  By John Stewart Experts in merchant acquiring have long pointed out that, when it comes to revenue, size matters. Now there are numbers measuring just how much it matters. Acquirers processing the most annual volume, some $30 billion or more each, earned revenue at a rate of 41 basis points …
• 13 May

  Apriva Issues Software Development Kit To Ease Mobile-Payment Integration in Apps

    It’s no secret that one cool use of smart phones and tablet computers is the ability to use apps. Research firm eMarketer Inc. predicts that 93% of U.S. smart-phone users will download and install at least one app in 2015, and 90% of tablet users will, too. It’s also …
• 12 May

  Security, Costs Weigh on Issuers as They Ponder Their EMV-Issuing Strategies: Report

    Payment card issuers considering the conversion of their credit and debit cards from magnetic stripes to EMV chip cards need to consider not only the cost, but the security and reputational factors of doing so, says Computer Services Inc., a banking-services company. In its new “The Road to U.S. …
• 12 May

  Processors Contest CFPB Charges That They Improperly Aided Debt Collectors

  By Jim Daly Processors accused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last month of aiding allegedly fraudulent debt collectors by providing them with payments services are beginning to file their answers to the federal charges. At least one of them is accusing the CFPB of “regulatory overreach” in the style …