News

July, 2014

• 18 July

  Twitter, Facebook Make Payments Moves, But Do They Threaten Payments Firms?

  Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. both made moves in the electronic-payments space this week, but analysts question whether the giant social networks are preparing frontal assaults on the payments industry. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook on Thursday revealed that it is testing a “Buy” button that will let members buy products directly …
• 17 July

  Merchants Face A SNAP Decision on Payment Terminals

    Many merchants that accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program transactions face an important decision between now and Sept. 21. By then, participating merchants in the SNAP no longer are eligible for subsidized payment terminals because of a change in law mandated by Congress. Until this change, states were allowed to …
• 17 July

  Visa Revamps Its Online Wallet, And Gives It a New Name: Visa Checkout

  Visa Inc. says its new online payment service, Visa Checkout, should help improve conversion rates for e-commerce retailers by making it easier for consumers to pay. The service, available in the United States, Canada and Australia, enables consumers to pay online on any device, Visa says. Visa Checkout replaces the …
• 16 July

  PCI Council Puts Trustwave’s Payment-Software Assessment Practice ‘In Remediation’

  The PCI Security Standards Council has placed Trustwave Holdings Inc.’s business of assessing payment-processing software for compliance with a major security standard “in remediation,” an official term that means probation. Chicago-based Trustwave is one of the biggest firms, if not the biggest, in the business of assessing merchants and processors …
• 16 July

  PayPal Brushes off a ‘Challenging’ Period for Parent eBay, Posting Solid Gains

  PayPal Inc. enjoyed a solid quarter of growth despite what eBay Inc. chief executive John Donahoe characterized Wednesday as a “challenging” first half. One of the biggest of these challenges, according to Donahoe, was a data breach that occurred in late February or early March and that led PayPal parent …
• 16 July

  Digital Transactions’s Jenisch Wins Industry Achievement Award from MidWest Acquirers

  Robert A. Jenisch, publisher of Digital Transactions, Digital Transactions News, and digitaltransactions.net, received the Industry Achievement Award from the MidWest Acquirers Association on Wednesday. The award, which recognizes substantial career accomplishments and contributions in the U.S. merchant-acquiring industry, was given to Jenisch during the MWAA’s annual conference in Lombard, Ill. …
• 15 July

  Federal Officials Tell Their Side of the Operation Choke Point Story

  They came in for more bashing at a House subcommittee hearing Tuesday, but several federal government officials at least got a chance to give their opinions about the controversial Operation Choke Point, an effort by the U.S. Department of Justice supported by bank regulators that aims to cut off access …
• 15 July

  ISOs And Acquirers Face Myriad Issues Over the Next 12 Months: Survey

    Increasing competition, slow growth, and staying abreast of changing technology top the list of issues facing independent sales organizations and merchant acquirers during the next 12 months, finds a new report from Adil Consulting. Fifty-two percent of respondents cited competition as the top trend, followed by growth, 48%, and …
• 14 July

  Countering Operation Choke Point, Acquirers Canceled 10,000 Fraudulent Merchants

  Seeking to contrast the merchant-acquiring industry’s actual practices with the impression created by the government’s Operation Choke Point that acquirers turn a blind eye to shady merchants, the industry’s leading trade group on Monday said its members last year discharged more than 10,000 merchants for fraud. That statistic comes from …
• 10 July

  Eye on Management: Leadership Change at the PCI Council; Roam Data’s Paull Leaves

  The PCI Security Standards Council has hired a former MasterCard Inc. executive as its new general manager to replace the retiring Bob Russo, and point-of-sale terminal maker Ingenico S.A.’s mobile-payment subsidiary Roam Data has a new leader. Russo, who became the PCI Council’s first general manager in March 2007,about six …