Content is king and information is power.   Internet users have an insatiable desire for content.  Buyers want the content fast and easy.  All internet buyers have mobile phones.  Merchants have content and want to sell it in the easiest and quickest manner possible.  They view mobile payments as a way buyers throughout the world can [...]

4 Functions of a Merchant Acquirer
Four important functions are performed by a merchant acquier.
1. Signing up and Underwriting Merchants. Obviously, merchants must be solicited, underwritten and signed up to process credit cards. Underwriting determines if the business has the financial stability to be accepted as a merchant. This is crucial to [...]

Worries about identiy fraud are certainly justified for US consumers.  According to Javelin, the number of identity-fraud victims rose 12% in 2009.  Last year, 11.1 million Americans were victims of fraud, up from 9.9 in 2008.  The estimated cost of the fraud was $54 billion, the highest amount since 2006.   The most common use of [...]

The US is falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to card security.  Throughout the EU, chip and PIN standards have been in place for a number of years.  But, in the US, the magnetic card stripe is still used on cards.
 
The problem is that Americans are having a difficult time using [...]

Cash remains the main way Europeans pay for purchases at point of sale.  Cash payments will dip slightly in the coming years, declining by 2.3% per year up to 2014.  However, cash will continue to be king, accounting for 63% of the Europe’s 414 billion payments in 2014.
There is little [...]

A new report has been published by Inside Network about social gaming.  The report is called Inside Virtual Goods:  The Future of Social Gaming 2010
The company predicts that the North American virtual goods market will surpass $1.6 billion in 2010.  Of that amount, more than 50% or $835 million [...]

Multinational corporations use cross-border international payments for supplier, distributor, and other expense payables; insurance, freight and duty payments; and, dividends, stock options and employee compensation.  The need for effective international payments applies to any company that does business outside of its national borders.
According to the 2009 Citi Cross-Border Payment Survey based on replies from over [...]

The UK Payments Council Board has targeted the 31st October 2018 as the date to close central cheque clearing.   According to the council, cheque use is in long-term, terminal decline.   Cheque use has been in decline since 1990, and has fallen by 40% over the last five years.
The Payments Council [...]

Card payments are continuing to grow world-wide. For example, in 2008, card payments increased to 250 billion transactions, an 8.6% raise from the year before.
In Europe, there were about 727 million cards issued in 2008.  Transaction volume on cards in the EU was €1.68 trillion.  Cards now constitute almost [...]

According to a study by market researcher NPD Group called “Gaming Device Profiles”, advertising games on social networks, or in magazines was much less effective than word-of-mouth referrals from friends and relatives.
Of course, this is not surprising. Consumers chose products and services based on reviews those they trust rather than from ads. But, it is [...]