Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
By John Stewart It is a commonplace notion that unicorns are to be encountered only in myth. But in the world of venture capital, they are becoming increasingly numerous. While it was once considered extremely rare for a privately held startup to achieve a $1 billion-plus valuation, there are now …
August, 2015
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3 August
Eye on EMV: Unprepared Merchants in for a ‘Big Surprise;’ U.S. Conversion Lifts Ingenico
By Jim Daly Some merchant categories such as restaurants are moving slowly into EMV chip card acceptance ahead of the looming Oct. 1 liability shift because they experience little of the fraud EMV cards are intended to prevent, while others are going to find losses “winging back at them,” executives …
July, 2015
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31 July
U.S. Mobile POS Installations Forecasted To Reach 17.4 Million by 2019
Installations of mobile point-of-sale devices in the United States and Canada will hit 17.4 million in four years, forecasts 451 Research in its “Mobile Point of Sale: Smart Devices Earn a Growing Share of Global Payment Acceptance” report released Thursday. If it proves accurate, that forecast will yield a 155.9% …
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31 July
As MCX Plans Pilot for Late August, Observers Ponder Fate of Its CurrentC Wallet
By John Stewart After a three-year gestation period, the Merchant Customer Exchange’s CurrentC mobile-payment service is planning to launch a pilot in Columbus, Ohio, during the last week of August, a source with knowledge of the matter tells Digital Transactions News. The pilot will involve locations belonging to a handful …
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31 July
Cardtronics Preps for a Big Gulp of Recovery Work Ahead of 7-Eleven’s Exit
Retail ATM network operator Cardtronics Inc. says it has been preparing for the possible loss of its biggest merchant, convenience-store giant 7-Eleven Inc., for three years and will stick to its established growth plan to fill the impending hole now that that possibility has become a reality. Houston-based Cardtronics has …
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30 July
U.S. EMV Conversion Boosts First Data’s Acquiring and Issuing Segments
By Jim Daly First Data Corp. on Wednesday reported modest second-quarter growth in its merchant-acquiring and issuer-processing segments thanks in part to the U.S. conversion to EMV chip card payments and reduced expense growth. In all, First Data reported a net loss of $26 million, a 24% improvement from the …
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29 July
Eye on Earnings: MasterCard Touts ‘Agnostic’ Tech Approach; Vantiv Revenue Climbs
By John Stewart and Jim Daly With products like its MasterPass digital wallet, MasterCard Inc. has stepped up its efforts to stake a claim in the emerging market for digital payments. But the company is loath to commit itself too soon to any particular technology, according to the card network’s …
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29 July
Merchants Have New Ammo To Blow up Interchange Settlement—But Is It Enough?
By Jim Daly Citing what they say were improper communications between two lawyers on opposing sides of a $5.7 billion settlement between merchants and Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., attorneys for a group of about 30 merchants gave notice to the networks Tuesday that they want to have the settlement …
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29 July
More iPhone 6 Users Are Making More Apple Pay Transactions, Report Says
Nine months after its launch, Apple Pay appears to be steadily establishing itself as an everyday service for consumers wielding iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smart phones. These users are increasing the frequency of their Apple Pay transactions as more consumers adopt the Apple Inc. device. That’s the summary of …
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28 July
COMMENTARY: Three Reasons Why Digital Wallets Are the Future of Payments
By Nicole Chan When Apple Pay first entered the digital-wallet scene, consumer interest in the technology increased. Now the question is, will digital-wallet payments become universal? The short answer is yes. The three reasons below expand on why. Reason #1: The technology exists. Rarely has the developed world made a …