Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Dwolla Inc. has entered the race to simplify—and ultimately speed up—payments between individuals and between organizations and individuals. Starting Thursday, the 6-year-old Des Moines, Iowa-based payments provider is allowing people who don’t have Dwolla accounts to receive payments from Dwolla users and flow them directly into their bank account. The …
December, 2014
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10 December
Gateway Charge Anywhere Discloses a Breach Affecting Undisclosed Number of Credit and Debit Cards
Chalk another payment-card data breach up for the bad guys. Payment gateway Charge Anywhere LLC announced Tuesday it discovered a breach of its payments network. It says it has shut down the malware that caused it. South Plainfield, N.J.-based Charge Anywhere said the malicious software, which was discovered Sept. …
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10 December
Gift Card Sales To Surpass $124 Billion in 2014
Gift cards sales in 2014 will top $124 billion in the United States, but that comes amid slowing growth, says a new report from CEB TowerGroup. The Arlington, Va.-based advisory firm predicts that gift card sales will see annual growth rates from 5% to 6% through 2017, an indication …
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10 December
Discover Forecasts $35 Million in 2015 EMV Costs and Is ‘Open for Business’ in Mobile Payments
Discover Financial Services expects to incur $35 million in incremental costs next year for Europay-MasterCard-Visa chip card issuance and acceptance, chief executive David W. Nelms said Wednesday. Nelms also said Discover will be an active player in mobile payments. Nelms made his remarks at an investor conference sponsored by The …
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9 December
NACHA Opens Comment Period for Its New Proposal to Launch Same-Day ACH Settlement
NACHA on Tuesday opened for comment a sweeping proposal to introduce a same-day settlement mechanism for the automated clearing house network. The comment period will run through Feb. 6, the regulatory body for the ACH announced. If the proposal is approved, the ACH network will process almost 1.4 billion same-day …
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9 December
Chick-fil-A Serves Up a Mobile Payment And Ordering App
Fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A Inc. has jumped into the mobile-payments frying pan with the debut Monday of a mobile payment and ordering app. Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A says the app, available for iOS and Android smart phones, can be used for mobile ordering at 130 Chick-fil-A restaurants in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, …
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9 December
The FIDO Alliance Releases Version 1 of Its Post-Password Online Authentication Standard
The Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance, a non-profit with more than 150 members in banking, payments, technology, and other industries, on Tuesday published its first standard for a better system of online authentication than the common but vulnerable user name and password. “Today, we celebrate an achievement that will define …
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9 December
Will the Persistence of Checks Undermine Efforts To Build Faster-Payments Systems?
Financial institutions, processors, and regulators have been moving toward systems that speed up electronic payments, but ironically their success in replacing paper checks with electronic processing may undermine their efforts. That’s because image exchange, the process by which paper checks are replaced by electronic images for clearing, has driven down …
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8 December
MasterCard Makes an Interactive Card Investment
MasterCard Inc. said Monday it is taking a two-pronged approach to developing interactive payment cards with an investment in Dynamics Inc., a maker of interactive payment cards, and a deal to commercialize the devices. Pittsburgh-based Dynamics makes payment cards that have features such as buttons, display and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Consumers can …
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8 December
Digital River’s Stock Craters on Fears of the Company Losing Microsoft’s Online Store
Gateway and e-commerce services provider Digital River Inc. on Monday joined some other payments companies that have experienced the wrath, or panic, of investors on news that their relationship with their largest customer was threatened. Shares of Minnetonka, Minn.-based Digital River plunged 22.7%, falling $5.80 to close at $19.71, after …