Point-of-sale

February, 2020

• 6 February

  Bitcoin Depot Expands ATM Fleet and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/6/20

  

  Bitcoin ATM deployer Bitcoin Depot said its network now includes more than 500 machines worldwide, with more than 100 in the Atlanta area. The company projects it will have more than 1,000 Bitcoin ATMS by the end of 2020.Lael Brainard, a Federal Reserve Board governor, said in a Wednesday speech that the Fed, …
• 5 February

  Debit Routing Uncertainty Down Under and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/5/20

  

  Australian financial regulators might intervene to stop banks from automatically routing contactless debit card payments to the Visa and Mastercard networks and instead give merchants the option of using the country’s EFTPOS network, Reuters reported.RevSpring Financial Services, a provider of collections-support services for health-care firms and other companies, debuted eVokePay, a payment …
• 4 February

  Fiserv Tugs the Curtain Back a Bit on Early Gains From Its Big First Data Acquisition

  

  Six months after closing on its $22 billion acquisition of First Data Corp., Fiserv Inc. on Tuesday dropped some tantalizing hints about early benefits the deal has generated for the combined company. First Data’s Clover app-based platform for merchant checkouts, for example, saw its gross payment volume grow fully 40% …
• 4 February

  Report: Changes in Visa’s Interchange Rate Schedule Coming This Year

  

  Visa Inc. reportedly is planning interchange rate changes that could raise merchants’ acceptance costs for card-not-present transactions but lower costs in some other categories, including purchases at big grocery-store chains. Citing a Visa document circulating among the network’s client banks, the Bloomberg news service reported Tuesday that interchange for a …
• 4 February

  A Hedge Fund’s Green Dot Stake and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/4/20

  

  Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP has taken an approximately 9% stake in prepaid card and banking services provider Green Dot Corp., according to a regulatory filing. Green Dot issued a statement saying it “welcomes transparent, constructive feedback regarding the common goal of enhancing long-term shareholder value.” In the wake of a big …
• 3 February

  POS Terminal Kingpin Ingenico Agrees To Be Acquired by Worldline in an $8.6 Billion Deal

  

  The mega mergers aren’t over yet. In a global move with potentially major implications for the U.S. payments market, Ingenico Group S.A. said it has agreed to be acquired by Worldline S.A. for cash and stock consideration totaling approximately $8.6 billion. The transaction, expected to close in the third quarter, …

January, 2020

• 31 January

  In Canada, Fast-Growing Debit Gets Further Impetus Via a New Rule That Opens More Acceptance Venues

  

  A new rule took effect this week in Canada that is expected to enable more debit card transactions by opening up venues such as buses, trains, parking meters, and vending machines for acceptance.  The regulation, called Rule E5, comes from Payments Canada, the country’s clearing-and-settlement operator, and amends a prior …
• 31 January

  Square Adds UPS E-Commerce Integration and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/31/20

  

  Small businesses using Square Inc. will be able to use turnkey UPS shipping services integrated into Square Online Store, the acquirer’s e-commerce platform, UPS announced. The Square-UPS deal includes special shipping rates that could be up to 55% off UPS daily rates.Amazon.com Inc. reported it now has more than 150 million Prime members …
• 30 January

  Little Good News for Payments Companies in 2019 Data Breach Report

  

  How will 2019 be remembered for data breaches? Not well. The number of U.S. data breaches tracked by the Identity Theft Resource Center increased to 1,473, a 17% increase from 1,257 in 2018. Drilling into the payments sector, the increase was larger, according to a newly released report from the …
• 30 January

  ‘Is Cash Still King?’ and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/30/20

  

  The U.S. House of Representatives’ Task Force on Financial Technology held a hearing Thursday morning titled “Is Cash Still King? Reviewing the Rise of Mobile Payments.” Witnesses included representatives from PayPal, the U.S. Faster Payments Council, the Brookings Institute, Consumer Reports, and a New York City non-profit dedicated to financial …