Analytics

I’d like to suggest there is one more bubble which has yet to be called out, but is nevertheless pretty obvious to a handful of payments professionals who don’t practice the art of denial or are not paid to cover up the obvious symptoms. It’s the payments bubble.

Following a similar move from Visa last week, MasterCard is streamlining EMV certification and will adjust its fraud-cost policy for non-EMV compatible merchants.

Changing the rules in the middle of the game. Rescuing the investors who took big risks at the expense of those who behaved prudently. Undermining the credibility of the system.

Finland’s Bank of Aland is partnering with Gemalto to give customers bio-friendly payment cards that calculate their carbon footprints.

Visa is acknowledging a merchant EMV migration logjam by loosening fraud chargeback policies and enabling faster chip card certifications for merchants.

Despite some early success, it can’t be ignored that there are still many merchants that cannot accept EMV chip cards.

American Express has joined Visa and MasterCard as a major card brand offering faster authorization at the point of sale to ease the perception that EMV payments take too long.

Merchants and cardholders alike have been challenged by the perceived additional time to complete the EMV transaction. These concerns pushed both Visa and MasterCard to create a response to improve the speed of transacting: Visa's Quick Chip and MasterCard's M/Chip Fast.

A growing number of fintech companies say they no longer use FICO scores or are using them in a limited way. The open question is whether their alternative methods will be more effective.

When Visa introduced its analytics tool to screen gas station transactions for fraud two years ago, it may not have been viewed in the petroleum industry as relevant to the expensive conversion to EMV payments at the pump.