News

Malware Attacked At Least 6 U.S. Retailers
January 22, 2014

BlackPOS, the point-of-sale (POS)-targeting malware implicated in the most recent data-breach attack, has been discovered attacking at least six other U.S. retailers. While IntelCrawler, a cybersecurity firm, has not publicly named the companies, it identified them as retailers based in the United States, Reuters reported...

News
Visa Warned Of POS Malware
January 22, 2014

Visa reportedly issued warnings twice in 2013 to retailers, including Target, that a point-of-sale (POS) malware attack was a serious threat. The revelation suggests that Target and others impacted by the data breach did not take adequate steps to protect themselves once the warning was...

Hmmm
Chase’s Prepaid Exit Affords No Simple Explanation
January 22, 2014

By Gloria Colgan, Managing Director, Market Platform Dynamics (@gkcolgan) Ah, the challenges of commercial prepaid. When JPMorgan Chase recently announced the potential sale of its government and commercial prepaid card business, it made big headlines. Chase has a massive portfolio from a prepaid perspective –...

B2B Payments
After A Recession-Driven Collapse, Factoring Returns For Apparel
January 22, 2014

Factoring, in which a supplier sells an invoice to a financer to be paid less than the invoice's value immediately, all but dried up as a financing source for small apparel manufacturers in the wake of the recession. But it appears to be making a...

Swedbank Dumps Its mPayments App
January 21, 2014

Citing a lack of interest among both consumers and retailers, Swedbank is pulling the plug on its mobile-payments service, Bart. Despite a few high-profile domestic merchants that signed up for the service, Swedbank failed to generate enough interest to make the venture profitable, Finextra reported...

Company Spotlight
As XP Support Ends, New POS and ATM Windows Open
January 21, 2014

By Jeffrey Green (@epaymentsguy) Much has been said, especially in trade press, over the past year or so about Microsoft’s decision to discontinue updating its Windows XP operating system, effective April 8. In making that decision, users of ATMs and point-of-sale terminals and systems, many...

B2B Payments
Pot’s ‘Grey Market’ Poised To Push B2B Payments Innovation
January 21, 2014

By: Eileen Goode (@eileengoode) Legalized for medical consumption in 20 states and for recreational use in Colorado and Washington, marijuana is still federally classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic. And federal rules prohibit federal banks and credit card companies from processing pot-related transactions. As such,...

Media Center
Will Consumers Ever Accept Money-Management Apps?
January 17, 2014

Money-management apps offer consumers the opportunity to manage their money more effectively. However, adoption by users has hit or miss at best, as many aren’t that interested in creating personal budgets. Some consumers have a tough time getting into the habit of regularly using these...

Financial Inclusion Key In MasterCard/Ecobank Partnership
January 14, 2014

15 January 2014 MasterCard is partnering with Ecobank Group to deliver electronic payments to sub-Saharan African countries. The deal stems from a 2011 agreement between the two organizations. That deal provides a number of MasterCard services, including prepaid, debit and credit cards, to areas previously...