News

January, 2012

• 26 January

  Shazam Announces Network-Wide Availability of Mobile Acceptance Including PIN Debit

  The Shazam electronic funds transfer network on Wednesday announced it is making available across its network a mobile-payments service that lets stores, tradesmen, and other merchants accept PIN-debit transactions as well as credit and signature-debit payments. With the rollout, the service is available to nearly 1,500 member financial institutions and …
• 26 January

  How Banks’ PR Fiascoes Compromise Their Ability to Recoup Revenue Lost to Durbin

  The banks’ defeat on the Durbin Amendment—followed by their hamhanded efforts to recover lost revenue with explicit debit card fees—may have done more than tarnish their image with consumers. It may also have damaged their ability to deploy revenue-generating programs linked to debit cards, according to Beth Robertson, director of …
• 25 January

  Eye on Prepaid: NetSpend Nets 7-Eleven for Distribution; Green Dot Buys a Processor

  Prepaid card program manager NetSpend Holdings Inc. beefed up its retail distribution channels through a new agreement announced on Wednesday with leading convenience-store chain 7-Eleven Inc. The news came just a day after NetSpend rival Green Dot Corp. revealed that it bought assets from eCommLink Inc. that will advance its …
• 24 January

  With No Credit Card Cushion, TCF Sees Debit Card Revenue Drop 51%

  Yet another big debit card issuer, TCF Financial Corp., weighed in with results from the first full quarter of Durbin Amendment debit card interchange price controls, and they weren’t pretty. The Wayzata, Minn.-based regional bank said on Tuesday that card revenue fell 51% to $13.6 million in the fourth quarter …
• 24 January

  Web Merchants See Fraudulent-Order Rate Fall, But the Good News Comes at a High Cost

  Online merchants made some progress last year against fraud, but the fight is becoming more and more expensive for them in terms of both dollar losses and operational costs, according to a report issued on Tuesday. Indeed, the news for e-commerce sellers is mixed at best. While fraudulent orders as …
• 23 January

  Fraud From Euronet Breach Hits Mag-Stripe Cards, Spares EMV Chip Cards

  Payment processor Euronet Worldwide Inc. reported on Monday that part of its European businesses sustained a computer security breach late last year. The disclosure is of interest to the U.S. payments industry as it moves slowly toward adoption of EMV chip cards because most European cards have both a chip …
• 19 January

  Holiday Post-Mortems Show Healthy Volume Gains, Sagging Average Tickets, Shift to Debit

  The post mortems on the holiday shopping season are arriving from major processors, and the emerging picture appears to be one of strong consumer spending but drooping average tickets online, in physical stores, and on merchant-branded gift cards. At least one report also found a switch in consumer preferences in …
• 19 January

  The Durbin Amendment’s Early Toll on Big Banks: $1.1 Billion And Counting

    Ouch. The Durbin Amendment, which slapped debit card interchange price controls on big banks beginning Oct.1, cost some of the nation’s largest financial institutions more than $1.1 billion in reduced fourth-quarter revenue. Digital Transactions News calculated that figure based on what seven national or large regional banks disclosed over …
• 19 January

  Though Zappos Case Gets ’12 off to Gloomy Start, Number of Card Records Breached Fell in 2011

  Despite a seemingly non-stop parade of headlines about data breaches last year, the number of credit and debit card records compromised actually fell, according to new figures from the Identity Theft Resource Center. The ITRC says it identified 111 data breaches that exposed 3.38 million records in 2011. n In …
• 18 January

  Protests Might Remove Acquirers From the Online Piracy Fray

  The Internet revolt over bills in the U.S. House and Senate aimed at thwarting online piracy might have a welcome side effect for merchant acquirers in possibly getting them out of an unwanted role as deputies charged with enforcing public policy. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia captured international headlines Wednesday when …