Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• The Merchants Payments Coalition, a Washington, D.C., lobbying group, released a new statement decrying what it calls a “poison pill” provision embedded in a bill proposed earlier this month by U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, to reform the 2010 Dodd Frank Act. The provision would repeal the debit-interchange curbs …
June, 2016
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23 June
Circle Lands a $60 Million Investment As It Eyes Expansion Into China And Europe
Digital-currency specialist Circle Internet Financial Ltd. is expanding into China following a $60 million investment from a syndicate of investors. This follows a $50 million funding round raised last year by the Boston-based company. Circle enables users to send and receive funds instantly at no charge using blockchain technology. A …
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23 June
Eye on EMV: Chip Card Counts Grows by 1.4 Billion; Discover Streamlines EMV Processes
With the U.S. EMV transition just getting into high gear, the number of EMV chip cards worldwide increased last year by 1.4 billion, or 41%, the EMVCo standards body reported Thursday. Meanwhile, Discover Financial Services joined the other three U.S. general-purpose payment card networks in taking steps to speed up …
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23 June
Banks Cash in on Visa Europe Deal and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched Walmart Pay in 11 states: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, and Indiana. • Citing volatile exchange rates for the British pound, some money-transfer companies are temporarily suspending pound transfers until after results of today’s “Brexit” vote on …
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22 June
COMMENTARY: Helping Banks Deliver a U.S. Real-Time Payments Scheme
Real-time payments have existed in various models for a long time. In fact, they’re probably most familiar to consumers as card payments, something that has been embedded in consumer culture for decades. However, in the United States, the development of real-time payments has lagged behind some areas of the world, a …
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22 June
Microsoft Introduces a Windows 10-Based Mobile Wallet With NFC Capability
Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday joined the mobile-payments race in earnest by announcing it is making near-field communication capability available on Microsoft Wallet for in-store transactions. The wallet works with Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. The new payments feature is limited for now to members of Microsoft’s Windows Insiders program “in …
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22 June
LaSalle Capital Takes a Stake in Processing.com and other Digital Transactions New briefs
• By the end of August American Express Co. will not hold merchants liable for counterfeit fraud chargebacks for transactions under $25 as part of its updated U.S. fraud policies for EMV chargebacks. By the end of 2016, AmEx plans to limit the number of counterfeit fraud chargebacks to 10 …
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21 June
A BofA Survey Finds More Consumers Are Using Their Phones to Make Purchases
The number of consumers of all age groups who would or already use their phones to make purchases at the checkout increased to 40% this year, finds Bank of America Corp.’s “Trends in Consumer Mobility Report 2016,” released Tuesday. That’s up from 34% in 2015. Younger consumers—Millennials between 18 and …
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21 June
Canada’s MintChip Digital Currency Goes Live at Toronto Stores and Restaurants
MintChip, a digital cash replacement, went live Tuesday with a handful of retailers and restaurants in a trendy Toronto neighborhood. Canadians anywhere also can use MintChip for peer-to-peer payments. A loyalty and payment-services startup called nanoPay Corp. bought MintChip, which was developed by the Royal Canadian Mint, early this year. …
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21 June
Visa Closes its Visa Europe Acquisition and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• Banking and financial-services provider BNY Mellon announced its Treasury Services unit has introduced Tokenized Payments, a service that allows its clients to send real-time or next-day payments to consumers. The service relies on Early Warning Services LLC’s clearXchange network and allows payments using the recipient’s email address or mobile …