News

March, 2017

• 19 March

  The OCC Moves Ahead With Its Fintech Bank Charter, but Blowback Grows

  

  The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has provided additional details about evaluating applications for its proposed limited-purpose national bank charter for financial-technology companies, but voices critical of the charter are growing louder. The OCC, a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department that regulates national banks, first proposed the …
• 17 March

  Merchants Begin to Ponder the Possible Impact of Faster-Payments Initiatives

  

  As the sweeping plan to update the U.S. automated clearing house network and other parts of the country’s payments system—an initiative known as faster payments—draws nearer, the first hints of what it could mean for merchants are being discussed. The faster-payments project, under the aegis of the Federal Reserve, will …
• 17 March

  The New MajikPOS Malware and other Digital Transactions News Briefs

  • Merchant acquirer Elavon Inc. has appointed Jamie Walker chief executive officer. A 16-year veteran of U.S. Bancorp, which owns the processor, Walker was most recently chief administrative officer of the bank’s Payment Services division, and before that served as Elavon’s chief financial officer. • A blog post from data-security …
• 16 March

  First Data Agrees to Acquire Acculynk, a Pioneer in PIN Debit for Web-Based Transactions

  

  The idea of allowing consumers to use PIN debit cards to pay online merchants has been a tough sell in the payments business, but observers hope a deal announced Thursday may give it a much-needed boost. Processing kingpin First Data Corp. said it will acquire Acculynk Inc., a 9-year-old Atlanta-based …
• 16 March

  Global Payments’ EdgeXpress Cloud and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • Samsung Electronics Co.’s soon-to-be-released Galaxy S8 smart phone will employ facial-recognition technology for mobile payments, including the company’s
• 16 March

  Why Flywire Is Expanding Its Reach Into Cross-Border Business-to-Business Payments

  

  Boston-based Flywire Corp., which for years has been processing tuition payments for students attending universities in foreign countries, is in the closing stage of a plan to enter the enormous market for processing payments between businesses in different countries. Pilots involving nine companies will run through the end of this …
• 16 March

  No Easy Answers as E-Retailers Contend With Compounding Payments Developments

  

  Rattle off a selection of payment trends—EMV, tokenization, fraud—and many e-retailers may be beset by apprehension. That’s especially true if the retailer looks to support emerging payment types, according to Matt Herren, director of payments analytics at Computer Services Inc., a Paducah, Ky.-based financial-technology provider. Herren, speaking at the Merchant …
• 15 March

  Chatbots Are ‘Disappointing,’ Says ShopChat, So It’s Rolling Out a Shopping Keyboard

  

  Chatbots have been carrying out commerce on messenger apps only since last spring, yet already some observers are less than thrilled with the experience, says Zephrin Lasker, chief executive and cofounder of a startup called ShopChat. “Many companies are pursuing robot assistant chatbots to interact with people on messaging. These …
• 15 March

  UnionPay International’s Vast Reach and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • China-based UnionPay International says more than 41 million merchants and more than 2 million ATMs in 160 countries and regions now accept its UnionPay card, as do 10-million-plus Web-based merchants. More than 80% of U.S. merchants accept the card, the company says. • Point-of-sale terminal maker Equinox Payments said …
• 14 March

  Amends Made, Green Dot Appoints a Formerly Hostile Investor as a Board Advisor

  

  Ten months after prepaid payments specialist Green Dot Corp. made amends with investor Harvest Capital Strategies LLC over a dispute about the company’s direction, Green Dot is adding a Harvest executive as an observer and advisor to its board of directors, the company announced Monday. Pasadena, Calif.-based Green Dot says Jeffrey …