The National ATM Council has sent a formal public petition to Visa on behalf of consumers and the U.S. ATM industry seeking elimination of network rules that prohibit ATM operators in the United States from providing dynamic currency conversion services to international Visa cardholders.

According to a press release, the petition included “many hundreds” of signatures from consumers and company representatives, and was accompanied with supporting data that highlighted the ready acceptance and repeat use of DCC services among MasterCard cardholders using U.S. ATMs.

“DCC services provide the transparency and real-time information needed by consumers from abroad to better understand their cash withdrawals from U.S. ATMs in terms of the cardholder’s home currency,” NAC Executive Director Bruce Renard said in the release. “Importantly, with DCC, the cardholder is given this consumer-friendly information, along with an opportunity to opt out of the transaction once the currency conversion information has been provided.”

NAC chairman and Access One CEO George Sarantopoulos said the supporting information presented with the petition makes a compelling case for Visa to change its rules pertaining to DCC in the U.S.

“There is no good reason to withhold these services any longer, from either a consumer or industry perspective, and we are hopeful that VISA will embrace this request and grant our petition on an expedited basis,” he said.

The petition asks Visa to authorize the provision of DCC services on Visa transactions at U.S. ATMs effective April 1

A new report has revealed that there was a 10 percent increase in the number of payment cards compromised at U.S. ATMs and merchants in 2017.

“The number of compromises and the number of card members impacted set a new record last year,” said TJ Horan, vice president of fraud solutions at FICO. “While most devices are safe, fraudsters are developing new technology and methods for hacking ATMs. This is why it’s important for consumers to be cautious when withdrawing cash, and also for them to check their account regularly and confirm that all the transactions on their debit card are legitimate.”

The data – which is taken from the FICO Card Alert Service that monitors hundreds of thousands of ATMs and other readers in the U.S. – also showed that compromised card readers at U.S. ATMs, restaurants and merchants went up 8 percent in 2017.

ATM hacks have proven to be a real concern for consumers and financial institutions. Earlier this year, Diebold Nixdorf and NCR Corporation – the two biggest ATM makers in the world – warned that hackers are going after ATM machines in the U.S. with tools that can force the machines to spit out cash. A confidential alert was sent to banks from the U.S. Secret Service that hackers are targeting standalone ATMs that are usually found in drug stores, big-box retailers and drive-thru ATMs.

And while financial institutions are launching cardless ATM transactions in which customers can use their mobile phones to withdraw money, Krebs on Security found that feature can be hacked, with criminals using stolen bank account usernames and passwords to quietly take cash out of ATMs.

In its report, FICO offered tips to keep payment card info safe, including staying away from an ATM that looks odd, or where your card doesn’t enter the machine smoothly; avoiding an ATM if anyone is hanging around nearby; calling your bank immediately if your card is captured inside of an ATM; requesting a new card number if you believe your card has been compromised; and checking your transactions frequently.

– pymnts.com –

Brits used their NFC-enabled mobile phones to spend nearly a billion pounds at the checkout last year, a 328% year-on-year rise, according to figures from Worldpay.

With Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay all beginning to establish themselves, the number of in-store contactless transactions made via mobile devices totalled 126 million last year, with the amount spent topping £975 million.

Almost a third of consumers are now taking advantage of their phone’s payment capabilities, says Worldpay, which predicts exponential growth over the next 12 months.

Accounting for 59% of all in-store mobile transactions, the supermarket sector has been an important driver in the uptake of digital wallets, as time-poor shoppers grab groceries on the go. Pubs, bars and restaurants make up a further 12.5% of the total spend.

But, shoppers are also now starting to use their phones for higher value items. In the second half of 2017, the average spend per transaction increased by 11%, driven in part by the increase in retailers accepting ‘limitless’ Apple Pay transactions in May.

James Frost, CMO, Worldpay, says: “Digital wallets are growing in popularity every day, but what’s interesting is the shift in the way people are shopping with their smartphone. No longer just restricted to light bites and post-work pints, mobile contactless payments are becoming increasingly popular for higher-end purchases too, as manufacturers integrate more sophisticated security features into handset designs.”

With this in mind, more than half of Brits – and nearly two thirds of Gen Z – can now see a future where their mobiles replace cards within five years.

The Worldpay stats are backed up by Barclaycard, which has released data showing strong growth in mobile and wearable payments, with the amount spent increasing by 365 per cent and 129 per cent respectively in just 12 months.

– www.finextra.com –

Visa has published EMV chip card statistics for December, and they show that the technology has made major inroads since the company’s first liability shift went into effect in October 2015.

Between September 2015, one month before the shift, and December 2017:

• The number of storefronts where EMV cards were accepted grew from 392,000 to 2.7 million, a 578 percent increase.
• As of December, approximately 6 in 10 stores in the U.S. accepted EMV cards.
• The number of Visa chip cards grew from 159 million to 481 million, a 202 percent increase.
• By December, 67 percent of all Visa cards were chip cards.
• Approximately 209.1 million Visa chip cards were debit cards and 272.7 million were credit cards.
• In December, 96 percent of payment volume — 1.5 billion transactions representing $78 billion — was on chip cards; this compares with 79 million transactions representing $4.8 billion in September 2015.

Finally, and perhaps most meaningful to the payments industry, the dollar amount of card fraud dropped 70 percent from September 2015 to December 2017, according to Visa.

– atmmarketplace.com –

Cyberattacks cost the U.S. economy upwards of $109 billion in 2016, with activity coming from inside the country as well as outside.

According to news from Reuters, citing the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), cyberattacks cost the U.S. anywhere from $57 billion to $109 billion. Outside the U.S., entities with malicious intent were based in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

But many cyberattacks were carried out by those residing in the U.S., with the White House Council of Economic Advisers suggesting corporate competitors, activists and organized crime were behind many cybersecurity breaches in the U.S. The report noted efforts from the public and private sectors would go a long way in fighting cyberattacks and would contribute to growth in the gross domestic product.

The report out of the CEA follows another recent survey, which reveals that cybersecurity is the biggest worry for companies, especially since few of them feel prepared to handle an online attack. The survey, which was conducted by Microsoft and Marsh, found that when 1,300 senior executives were polled, two-thirds ranked cybersecurity among their organizations’ top five risk management priorities, with 75 percent saying the business interruption that comes from a hack has the greatest impact on their organizations. But while companies fear the impact of a cyberattack, only 19 percent are highly confident in their organization’s ability to prevent and respond to one. In fact, only 30 percent have developed a plan to respond to a cybersecurity incident.

“Cyber risk is an escalating management priority, as the use of technology in business increases and the threat environment gets more complex,” said John Drzik, president of Global Risk and Digital at Marsh. “It’s time for organizations to adopt a more comprehensive approach to cyber resilience, which engages the full executive team and spans risk prevention, response, mitigation and transfer.”

– pymnts.com –