Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Visa Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have settled a 2014 antitrust lawsuit the huge retailer filed against Visa that sought $5 billion in damages, Visa reported. Disclosure of the settlement comes in a brief passage in Visa’s annual report for fiscal 2015 ended Sept. 30, which Visa filed with the …
Read More »San Francisco Sues AmEx Alleging Unfair Competitive Practices
By Kevin Woodward The City Attorney for San Francisco has filed suit in California Superior Court against American Express Co., alleging the card brand continues to restrain merchants from steering consumers to other payment options. Filed Nov. 6, the suit seeks $2,500 per violation, which City Attorney Dennis J. Herrera …
Read More »After a Year in the Dumps, Bitcoin’s Price Stages a Rally As Usage Steadily Climbs
After languishing in the $200s most of the year, the price of the Bitcoin digital currency rallied this week, briefly flirting with the $500 level on some exchanges before settling in the high $300s by Friday morning. At the same time, Bitcoin usage, though still relatively rare, is steadily rising. …
Read More »Visa Inc. Will Buy Visa Europe, But Can It Get From Europe What It Earns in the U.S.?
Ending months of speculation, Visa Inc. on Monday announced it will buy its European counterpart, London-based Visa Europe Ltd., in a cash, stock, and earn-out deal valued at $23.4 billion. “We’re delighted to be reuniting the Visa family,” said Visa Inc. chief executive Charles W. Scharf in discussing the acquisition …
Read More »For Visa, Electronic Payments Produce a River of Cash
Visa Inc. may be in the business of credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, tokenization, EMV chips and virtually anything involving electronic payments, but its latest financials tell the real story—it’s all about cash. On a day dominated by news of its pending $23 billion takeover of Visa Europe, Visa …
Read More »Chase Unveils Chase Pay, a Mobile Wallet That Will Work at Merchants Accepting CurrentC
JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Monday unveiled its Chase Pay mobile wallet and said the product will begin rolling out in the middle of next year. Chase also said its new wallet will be accepted at merchants belonging to the Merchant Customer Exchange LLC, a retailer-controlled consortium that has been …
Read More »Now That the Big Risk Shift Has Taken Place, Get Set for EMV Non-Compliance Fees
Now that merchant acquirers, and, by extension, merchants, are liable for certain kinds of fraud losses if the merchants aren’t prepared for EMV chip cards, acquirers are starting to put in place EMV non-compliance fees to cover their new risk exposure. One of the first to move on this is …
Read More »Blockchain Technology Enables Uphold To Offer Free Money-Exchange Services
With a mission to offer as many free, or cheap, money-exchange services as possible, Uphold, a virtual funds and commodity platform, on Wednesday launched the first of a four-phase effort to expand its reach among consumers, merchants, charitable organizations and software developers. Uphold, the new name of Bitreserve, an …
Read More »Tokenization’s Fast Rise Will Likely Attract Rivals for the Big Three Networks, Report Says
By John Stewart Just within the past year or so, tokenization has assumed a central role in digital payments, and in that business three major card networks are the dominant—indeed, only—players performing a crucial function known as the token service provider. But this new form of payment processing is moving …
Read More »ATM Surcharges and Foreign Fees Are Up 4% to New Records, Bankrate Survey Finds
ATM surcharges rose 4% to an average of $2.88 this year from $2.77 in 2014, while foreign fees increased 3.8% to $1.64 from last year’s $1.58, Bankrate Inc. found in its latest annual study of checking account fees. Together, the two fees total $4.52, another new record and up 3.9% …
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