Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Confirming rumors that have been rife for days, merchant acquirer Global Payments Inc. announced late Tuesday that it will buy smaller rival Heartland Payment Systems Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $4.3 billion. At $100 per share, the deal represents an 18% premium over Heartland’s closing share price Tuesday. …
December, 2015
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14 December
The U.K.’s Yoyo Wallet Hopes Soon To Be Walking a Big Dog in U.S. Mobile Payments
By John Stewart While many observers might argue the U.S. payments market has plenty of mobile-wallet entries for the time being, a U.K. startup called Yoyo Wallet figures there’s room for one more. London-based Yoyo, which launched with university cafeterias nearly two years ago and has expanded to catering operations …
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14 December
Mobile Payments Poised for 62% Growth in 2016, Says eMarketer
2016 could be an auspicious year for mobile payments growth. That’s if a forecast from eMarketer Inc. proves correct. The New York-based research firm predicts that the number of consumers making mobile payments at the point of sale with smart phones will hit 37.5 million in 2016, a 61.6% increase …
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14 December
EMV Still Lifting VeriFone as Retailers Convert and the Oil Sector Begins Switchover
The conversion of U.S. mall and Main Street retailers to EMV chip card acceptance continues to lift VeriFone Systems Inc.’s North American revenues, but now the leading U.S.-based point-of-sale terminal maker and payment-services provider is getting ready for a rush of orders from petroleum marketers preparing to meet a key …
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11 December
Bitcoin Value Rallies As the Digital Currency Closes out a Promising Year
By John Stewart The Bitcoin digital currency is surging again. Factors ranging from the collapse of the Chinese yuan to the supposed unmasking of Bitcoin’s inventor have helped push the controversial currency’s price up 15% in the past week, to a close at $415.25 on Thursday, according to data compiled …
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11 December
Global Payments, Heartland Combo Would Produce an Acquirer of Wide Breadth
There have been IPOs galore in the payment industry of late and merchant acquirer TransFirst is in the dock, and the acquisitions of independent sales organizations by bigger processors continues unabated. But there hasn’t been an acquisition of a big, publicly held payment processor by another in some time. That …
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10 December
Despite Observers’ Doubts, Wal-Mart Says Walmart Pay Won’t Weaken Ties to MCX
By John Stewart Thursday’s surprise announcement by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that the retailing titan will roll out its own mobile-payment service next year raises questions about its commitment to Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), the mobile-wallet consortium that Wal-Mart helped launch three years ago. Starting this month, Wal-Mart will begin …
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9 December
Working with Card Issuers, Tender Armor Offers an Anti-Fraud Tool for E-Commerce
Newly launched Tender Armor hopes its CvvPlus product can help issuers, merchants, and consumers combat the risk from fraudulent card-not-present transactions, the company announced Wednesday. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company says CvvPlus can help stem online fraud by providing a daily card verification code that is not printed on a …
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9 December
A Peek at One Processor’s Early EMV and Mobile Transactions Yields Some Surprises
An analysis of recent credit and debit card transaction data by credit-union services organization The Members Group gives some interesting insights about the penetration of two new payment channels in the U.S.—EMV chip cards and mobile payments. For example, EMV transactions amounted to 26% of all transactions that TMG processed over …
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8 December
With a Peak Performance in 2015, Merchant-Acquiring Stocks Look to a Sustainable 2016: Report
Publicly-held merchant acquirers were the best-performing payments stocks of 2015, investment-advisory firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods says in its “2016 Outlook: Pay for Growth in This Environment” report released Tuesday. Among the acquirers and processors KBW tracks are PayPal Holdings Inc., Global Payments Inc., Vantiv Inc., Heartland Payment Systems …