News

July, 2016

• 1 July

  Will Wal-Mart Give Visa the Boot in Canada?

  

  Speaking of merchant-network skirmishes, fighting between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Visa Inc. broke out anew last month when, citing high acceptance costs, Wal-Mart’s Canadian unit announced that it will no longer accept Visa payment cards in its stores through a gradual phase-out set to begin July 18. Wal-Mart’s carefully phrased …
• 1 July

  Certification Delays Crash VeriFone’s EMV Party

  

  It was great while it lasted, but it looks like the chip card party is over for VeriFone Systems Inc., the leading U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal maker, at least for now. The U.S. conversion to EMV chip cards had produced a North American revenue windfall for VeriFone over the past couple …
• 1 July

  Durbin Spars With Visa And MasterCard

  

  Depending on your point of view, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., became either a hero or a villain in the payments business back in 2010 with his Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act. Among other things, the amendment capped debit card interchange for large issuers, pleasing merchants and ruffling the feathers …
• 1 July

  An Appeals Court’s Decision Puts Interchange in Play, With an Unpredictable Outcome

  

  The sweeping 4-year-old settlement between card networks and banks on the one hand and merchants on the other, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned Thursday, covered a lot of ground. But the case the agreement grew out of had as its central focus credit card …
• 1 July

  COMMENTARY: Lessons Learned From NFC Failures

  

  During the last 20 years, I’ve worked for, consulted for, partnered with, or analyzed hundreds of payments companies and thousands of other firms that are in some way connected with payments companies, either as customers, prospects, or partners. Many of those companies have been highly successful, some explosively so. Others …
• 1 July

  Cardtronics Completes UK Headquarters Move and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • ATM network operator Cardtronics plc, formerly Cardtronics Inc., completed its plan to re-domicile in the United Kingdom following approval of the plan by shareholders June 28. Cardtronics’ North American headquarters will remain in Houston, while its European headquarters will be in London. The company’s stock will continue to trade …

June, 2016

• 30 June

  Visa’s Counterclaim in Debit Dispute Accuses Wal-Mart of Contract Fraud

  Visa Inc. on Wednesday filed a counterclaim against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. alleging that the retailer’s May lawsuit against the network is not an issue involving violations of federal regulations regarding debit cards, as Wal-Mart cast it, but a contract dispute. Visa says Wal-Mart “fraudulently induced” it to sign an acceptance …
• 30 June

  Uncertainty Shrouds Huge Interchange Settlement After Appellate Court’s Stunning Veto

  A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a massive agreement initially reached four years ago over card-network interchange and acceptance rules, drawing a sudden veil of uncertainty over crucial legal matters much of the payments industry had thought were all but settled. In a 41-page opinion studded with sometimes …
• 30 June

  Global Payments To Relocate and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • In a huge legal development for the payment card industry, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned a lower court’s 2013 approval of a $7.25 billion settlement of a merchant class-action lawsuit accusing Visa, MasterCard, and some banks of antitrust violations in setting credit card interchange. The appellate …
• 30 June

  Global Payments To Relocate and other Digital Transactions News briefs

  • In a huge legal development for the payment card industry, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned a lower court’s 2013 approval of a $7.25 billion settlement of a merchant class-action lawsuit accusing Visa, MasterCard, and some banks of antitrust violations in setting credit card interchange. The appellate …