News

July, 2012

• 3 July

  Gift Card Sellers Get Half a Loaf in New Jersey As State Delays ZIP Code Rule

  New Jersey has delayed implementation of the most onerous provisions of an unclaimed-property law affecting gift cards that caused American Express Co. and two major gift card distributors to pull out of the state this spring. The changes Gov. Chris Christie signed into law last week, however, don’t repeal the …
• 3 July

  Google’s Android Shipments Among Hopeful Signs for NFC

  Google Inc.’s disclosure last week that 1 million Android-powered devices are now shipping each week with near-field communication (NFC) capability has renewed industry speculation about when NFC-based mobile payments will become a mainstream service. The shipment figure, a rare disclosure from the tightlipped Web search giant, came with weekly activation …
• 3 July

  Decoupled Debit Goes Mobile As Closed-Loop Card Processor Pushes Wallets

  National Payment Card Association is out to prove the obituaries for decoupled debit were, as the saying goes, exaggerated. Not only does the company have 4,000 gas stations accepting its PIN-based debit cards, it expects a major petroleum vendor will begin accepting debit transactions through its platform on a mobile …
• 2 July

  Late with Its ‘Roadmap,’ AmEx Could Jump into EMV Lead Among Networks

  American Express Co. announced what it calls its “roadmap” for EMV and chip-based and mobile payments in the U.S., which means all four of the major U.S.-based payment card networks are now on record with plans to move beyond the magnetic-stripe payment card. Like the ones from MasterCard Inc. and …

June, 2012

• 28 June

  Eye on Mobile: Revel Systems’ POS iPad Router; MasterCard Gives a Kick to Loyalty

  Startup Revel Systems Inc. this week unveiled a device it is touting as a way for retailers using an Apple iPad for point-of-sale functions to run peripheral devices without an Ethernet router. The device, called the Revel Router, accesses the Internet via the iPad’s cellular connection. San Francisco-based Revel, which …
• 28 June

  ISOs, Processors Start to Prepare for a Future of Chip Cards And Mobile Wallets

  With EMV chip card payments coming and mobile wallets using near-field communication already here, merchant acquirers are beginning to roll out their own hardware and software to handle the new technologies. This week, the big merchant acquirer Chase Paymentech introduced its “Future Proof” point-of-sale terminal and earlier this month, Merchant …
• 27 June

  Heartland Axes a Trio of Student Card Fees in Wake of Consumer Group Report

  Citing “ever-increasing student college expenses,” Heartland Payment Systems Inc. reported on Tuesday that it would eliminate three fees on its student-aid prepaid card. Heartland’s move comes a few weeks after the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), a prominent consumer advocacy group, issued a report highly critical of the …
• 27 June

  New Zeus Trojan Cloaks Itself from Detection, Waits to Attack After Log-ins

  Cybercriminals have introduced a new version of a notorious malware threat that is not only harder to detect but also more capable of stealing card numbers, PINs, and other sensitive information. This latest variant of the so-called Zeus Trojan malware includes a change that makes it virtually invisible to programs …
• 27 June

  Visa’s Canadian Debit Initiative Adds a Major Issuer

  The Visa Debit train in Canada picked up speed this week when one of the country’s major banks, TD Canada Trust, introduced a debit card that uses the Visa network for card-not-present and international transactions. TD Canada Trust brings to three the number of Canadian banks offering Visa Debit since …
• 26 June

  Visa’s New Network Fee Favors Aggregators, a Top ISO Executive Argues

  A network fee introduced this year by Visa Inc. hands so-called merchant aggregators like PayPal Inc. an unfair cost advantage relative to traditional acquirers and independent sales organizations, a top executive with one leading ISO contends. The fee, known as the fixed acquirers network fee (FANF), is a complicated affair …