Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

February, 2012

• 14 February

  Google Announces a Fix for Prepaid Flaw As Security Holes Plague Its Wallet

  Google Inc. late on Tuesday announced a solution for a security flaw in its mobile wallet that allows hackers to gain access to wallet owners’ prepaid accounts. Google also said it had, on Monday afternoon, restored the ability to load funds on new prepaid cards. In response to the flaw, …
• 13 February

  Plenty of Tests And Contracts, But No High-Speed Route to Contactless Payments

  The nation’s largest transit operators are moving toward so-called open-fare payment systems that will enable riders to pay fares with just a tap of a contactless bank card at a subway turnstile or a terminal on a bus. Replacement of old fare systems, however, is not going at nearly the …
• 9 February

  Now Taking EMV Cards at Some U.S. Stores, Wal-Mart Prods EFT Networks to Get in the Game

  With both Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. now on the record with plans to encourage the adoption of EMV chip card and mobile payments in the U.S, it seems all but certain that the magnetic-stripe payment card’s days are numbered. In fact, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. already is seeing some EMV …
• 9 February

  Durbin Begins to Bite at Visa As Debit Growth Slows in the Latest Quarter

  While acknowledging that federal pricing regulations are crimping growth in its debit card business, Visa Inc. late on Wednesday presented an upbeat report to investors that stressed new ventures like its recently introduced digital wallet, V.me. Separately, the world’s largest card network also unveiled new tools to help client banks …
• 8 February

  Food, Dining Places Especially Vulnerable to Card-Data Breaches, Report Finds

  Among all the types of merchants that accept card transactions, coffee shops, pizza parlors, burger places, and food stores might need to keep an extra-careful watch on their card data. If they’re operating as a franchisee and part of a chain, they might want to be especially wary. And if …
• 7 February

  Visa Unveils Chip Services As Its U.S. EMV Card Base Crosses the 1 Million Threshold

  Visa Inc. reported on Monday that its U.S. financial-institution clients have issued more than 1 million chip cards compliant with the EMV standard. The leading payment card network also introduced new EMV processing services so that issuers can reduce their own investments in chip technology. Just over 10 issuers now …
• 6 February

  Datacard, DeviceFidelity Prepare for Mass Issuance of Micro SD Cards for NFC

  In a move that could herald a time when card issuers will be able to mass produce specialized cards equipped with near-field communication (NFC) technology, Datacard Group on Monday announced it has taken an equity stake in DeviceFidelity Inc., a Richardson, Texas-based startup that makes micro Secure Digital (SD) cards …
• 3 February

  As Payments Boom for Facebook, Competition Could Cut into Revenues

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• 2 February

  MasterCard Sees Durbin Gains But Draws the Line at Credit Card Interchange Cuts

  MasterCard Inc. posted strong debit card growth in 2011’s fourth quarter, and the No. 2 card network’s top executive told analysts on Thursday that MasterCard is picking up some new business because of the Durbin Amendment. At the same time, however, MasterCard president and chief executive Ajay Banga said the …
• 1 February

  Research Identifies an E-Commerce Premium, But How Long Will It Last?

  A longstanding truism in the acquiring business is that smaller merchants tend to generate more profit than their larger counterparts. But now research has emerged to show that smaller online merchants are even more profitable for acquirers and processors than brick-and-mortar stores of the same size. In fact, across all …