News

June, 2013

• 5 June

  As Adoption Lags, Gartner Shaves 40% Off Its NFC-Based Mobile Payments Forecast

  Lackluster adoption has prompted a major research firm to make a sharp downward revision of its five-year projection for mobile payments based on near-field communication (NFC) technology. Worldwide NFC payments volume will reach $22 billion by 2016, down 40% from the original forecast released a year ago, says Gartner Inc. …
• 5 June

  VeriFone’s Interim CEO Eats Humble Pie As the Company Cleans Up a Bergeron-Era Mess

    VeriFone Systems Inc. interim chief executive officer Richard McGinn gave a blunt review of the company’s recent past Wednesday in the point-of-sale hardware and payment software provider’s first quarterly earnings call in memory without former chief executive Douglas Bergeron. McGinn said the company under-invested in research and development and …
• 4 June

  FDIC Signals Increased Non-Bank Scrutiny with Action Against Prepaid Program Manager

  In an action that appears to signal stepped-up scrutiny of non-bank prepaid card distributors by federal banking regulators, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday announced it is fining Achieve Financial Services LLP $110,000 and forcing it to pay at least $1.1 million in restitution to consumers. The FDIC also …
• 4 June

  The FTC’s Breach Lawsuit Against Wyndham Becomes a Cybersecurity Flashpoint

  A formerly obscure lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission against Wyndham Worldwide Corp. and three subsidiaries in the wake of three data breaches at the hotel chain has become the flashpoint of a growing debate about the lack of a federal law governing data security on the Internet and …

May, 2013

• 30 May

  Visa’s U.S. EMV Card Count More Than Doubles in Nine Months, Albeit from a Tiny Base

  Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards have entered the classic phase of huge percentage growth from a very small base, according to new U.S. figures from Visa Inc. The leading network this week reported that American financial institutions had issued 3.5 million Visa-branded EMV cards as of March 31, an increase of …
• 29 May

  Liberty Reserve Case Exemplifies New Focus by Prosecutors on Digital Currency

    The shutdown of digital-currency network Liberty Reserve by federal prosecutors on money-laundering charges is part of the increased focus on the virtual-currency market by regulators and law enforcement agencies, but doesn’t necessarily mean all such currencies face the same fate. While Liberty Reserve shared some common features with Bitcoin …
• 29 May

  Head of Nascent Chase Merchant Services Sees Opportunity, Keeps Mum About Specifics

    The fledgling Chase Merchant Services operation may now have a boss, but that doesn’t mean the considerable industry curiosity about the JPMorgan Chase & Co. payments unit is going to be quenched any time soon. Chase officials, beginning with newly appointed CMS chief executive Mike Passilla, are playing it …
• 29 May

  Court’s Critique Sparks NetSpend To Mull New Offers As Alternatives to TSYS Bid

  Prepaid card program manager NetSpend Holdings Inc. on Wednesday said it will postpone until June 18 the shareholder meeting it planned for Friday to approve its $1.4 billion sale to processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). The delay is an attempt in the wake of two shareholder lawsuits to create …
• 28 May

  Eye on Acquiring: IP Commerce To Stop Processing; Passilla at Chase; Groupon And SumUp

    IP Commerce Inc., a 9-year-old Denver-based company that provides platforms for independent software vendors (ISVs) and other payments developers, will discontinue its front-end payment-processing service effective June 30, according to a notice on the home page of the company’s Web site. The company began notifying clients earlier this month, …
• 28 May

  Visa, MasterCard File Suit As Credit Card Settlement Spawns More Litigation

    World War I was supposed to be the war that ended all wars. It didn’t, of course. And the settlement announced last July that was supposed to end lawsuits over bank card interchange and related network rules not only is failing to end litigation between merchants and the card …