Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

May, 2019

• 23 May

  Attacks From Rogue Mobile Apps Jump 300%, and CNP Fraud Continues To Boom, RSA Finds

  

  Fraud attacks involving rogue mobile applications jumped nearly 300% in the first quarter from the preceding quarter, and fraudulent card-not-present transactions rose 17%, fraud-control services provider RSA Security says in a new report. Bedford, Mass.-based RSA says it flagged 41,313 attacks from rogue apps compared with 10,390 in 2018’s fourth …
• 23 May

  TriMet Adds Apple Wallet Option and other Digital Transactions New briefs from 5/23/19

  

  TriMet, the transit agency for the Portland, Ore., region, said transit riders can now use its Hop Fastpass card in Apple Wallet and use their iPhones and Apple Watches to pay for fares on TriMet, C-TRAN, and Portland Streetcar lines. TriMet said Hop is the first transit fare to launch …
• 22 May

  Having Put out 20 Million Contactless Cards So Far, Chase Tackles New York Mass Transit

  

  Two powerful forces for making contactless cards a routine feature of daily life are acceptance by mass-transit systems and backing from the biggest issuers. On Wednesday, that combination came into focus with an announcement from Visa Inc. that starting May 31 users of the 20 million contactless credit cards JPMorgan …
• 22 May

  Citgo Readies EMV at the Pump and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/22/19

  

  Gilbarco Veeder-Root said Citgo Petroleum Corp. released its EMV-acceptance Passport software for Citgo retailers to use in the forecourt. With this release, Gilbarco Veeder-Root said more than 70% of its Passport customers have forecourt EMV software available as upgrades. At a payments conference sponsored by The American Bankers Association, the …
• 21 May

  Hedge Fund Takes 12% Stake in “Undervalued” USA Technologies

  The beaten-down shares of vending-machine payments provider USA Technologies Inc. jumped nearly 15% Tuesday on news that a hedge fund had taken a 12% stake in the company. In a regulatory filing, New York City-based Hudson Executive Capital LP said it believes USAT’s “shares are undervalued and are an attractive …
• 21 May

  Cash Proves Resilient Even As Regulation to Ban Cashless Stores Builds Steam

  

  With momentum building to ban cashless stores, a rough consensus seems to be emerging that the United States will never have the cashless society futurists have predicted for decades as first cards, then e-commerce, and now mobile payments took root. To be sure, research released Tuesday by Square Inc. shows …
• 21 May

  As U.S. Contactless Card Payments Ramp up, Canada and the U.K. Point the Way to Mass Adoption

  

  Contactless payments account for only an estimated low-single-digit share of U.S. general-purchase credit and debit card transactions, but contactless has a much greater share of payments in Canada and the United Kingdom, recently released data show. Canada’s largest merchant acquirer, Toronto-based Moneris Solutions Corp., says that in the first quarter …
• 21 May

  Nxgen Makes Another Acquisition and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/21/19

  

  Nxgen International Inc. acquired payments provider Payment Plus Inc. for an undisclosed amount. PPI will continue to grow its business in Kentucky and the Midwest, Nxgen said. Card-issuing platform Marqeta said it raised $260 million in Series E funding, placing the company’s value at almost $2 billion. Marqeta said the …
• 20 May

  First Data’s Volume Growth Slowed in the First Quarter, but Brick-and-Mortar Topped E-Commerce

  

  First-quarter growth in leading merchant processor First Data Corp.’s portfolios lagged growth posted in the preceding two quarters, but in a rare event physical merchants posted higher sales increases than their online counterparts. In its latest SpendTrend report, First Data says total payment card spending at U.S. merchants on its …
• 20 May

  Are Digital Payments Killing ATMs? Some Researchers Say Yes, But the Debate Isn’t Closed

  

  A report that emerged over the weekend showing a first-ever drop in the ATM count in four of the five largest ATM markets has lent new urgency to the debate over whether electronic payment methods are killing cash—and hence cash dispensers. The report, from London-based RBR, says the number of …