The race is on to transition unbanked and underbanked consumers from cash to mobile and digital payment methods, with Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. in the lead. The retail giants launched service offerings in 2017 designed to bring personalized shopping experiences to consumers who prefer to pay with cash. As mainstream retailers make these solutions available to cash-paying customers, payments analysts expect to see increased adoption of mobile and digital payments among underserved shoppers.

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Visa Inc. is planning to step up its game as the official payment partner for the upcoming XXIII Winter Olympic Games and 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Affiliated with the Olympics since 1986 and FIFA since 2007, the global payments brand will unveil innovative cash-free fan experiences at both sporting events.

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In the recently released 2017 Holiday Spending Report Card, which tracks same store year-over-year sales from over 3.5 million card accepting U.S. merchants, projected growth in holiday spending will be driven by strength in the Northeast region and increased spending nationally at hotels, restaurants, shoe stores and building material stores. "Low unemployment, coupled with consumer confidence near a 17-year high, is bolstering an already healthy economy," said Jared Drieling, Director of Business Intelligence of The Strawhecker Group.

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When Black Friday opens the holiday season Nov. 24, 2017, the surge of in-store and online shopping will benefit Main Street, not just big-box retailers, according to retail analysts. A new study published Nov. 14, by Womply, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, found 2016 Black Friday sales surpassed Small Business Saturday and December 23 among small business owners. Womply's data scientists found Black Friday was the top sales day for local retailers in every state except Maine, where Small Business Saturday took top honors.

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Peggy Olson, founder and principal of Strategic Marketing, reported on the 2017 Money20/20 conference, held Oct. 22 to 25 in Las Vegas. Attracting more than 11,000 attendees from 85 countries this year, the annual event is a vehicle to generate ideas, make connections, seize business opportunities, strengthen partnerships and discover the latest disruptions on their way to revolutionizing the future of money. Her report follows: Having attended the conference the past few years, I wondered in advance what new big thing would be the topic de jour. After attending several conference sessions and making my way through the exhibit hall, it became clear there was no one big thing that jumped out at me as this year's show-stealer. Nevertheless, the event more than fulfilled its mission.

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ThreatMetrix is warning retailers and consumers to be vigilant this holiday season. The company’s Q3 2017 Cybercrime Report, published Nov. 15, 2017, recorded 171 million attacks against ecommerce sites in the third quarter of 2017, a 32 percent increase from the first quarter of the year, the company stated. Security analysts contributing to the study also detected increasingly sophisticated attack vectors, such as wide-scale, automated bot attacks against consumers and business owners. Report findings suggest criminals will be attracted to the holiday season’s high traffic and high average tickets, raising potential losses to billions in retail revenue. Report authors expect armies of fraudsters to launch more than 50 million cyberattacks during the week of Nov. 20, 2017.

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The Federal Reserve's vision of real-time payment systems accessible to U.S. consumers and businesses alike is inching closer to reality. On Nov. 13, 2017, the first real-time payment was processed through RTP, a new payment system developed by The Clearing House. The exchange was between BNY Mellon and U.S. Bank. At least four other large U.S. banks – Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank and SunTrust Bank – are expected to start moving payments through RTP any day now, TCH said. RTP – which TCH describes as "the first new core payments infrastructure in the U.S. in more than 40 years" – was a collaborative effort involving TCH's 25 owner banks and Vocalink. Vocalink, which is majority-owned by Mastercard, developed the technology that undergirds several existing real-time payments networks, including the U.K.'s Faster Payments Scheme.

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Taking an early exit as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray stated in an email to employees on Nov. 15, 2017, his intention to resign by the end of the month. His term was set to expire in July 2018. Since he took the helm as a President Obama appointee, Cordray's sweeping authority and the CFPB's constitutionality itself have been called in question in some sectors and supported in others. Authorized by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB was established as an independent agency in July 2011. It was created to protect consumers in the financial sector in the aftermath of the financial collapse of 2008 and ensuing Great Recession. The bureau’s jurisdiction spans banks, credit unions, payday lenders, debt collectors and other financial companies operating within the United States.

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Visa Inc. unveiled on Nov. 13, 2013, Visa Global Transit Solutions, a new service designed to create a frictionless mass transit experience. Program organizers expect the service to simplify debit, credit and prepaid acceptance at turnstiles and inside bus readers. Technology companies and transit operators saw live demos this week in London; additional events are planned for New York, as well as for locations in Dubai and Singapore, Visa representatives stated. Michael Lemberger, Head of Products at Visa Europe, said Visa is working with Transport for London (TfL) to improve public and private transportation. The companies plan to leverage worldwide contactless payments, which account for 40 percent of Europe's in-store payments.

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A number of companies with links to the payments industry earned Deloitte 2017 Technology Fast 500 awards. The 23rd annual list honored 500 companies headquartered in North America. Selection was based on technology innovation, entrepreneurship and rapid growth. Companies with base-year operating revenues of $50,000 stemming from proprietary product sales in eight categories, and $5 million for the current year, were ranked on percentage growth during the 2013 through 2016 period.

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Security experts are advising companies to secure corporate networks ahead of the holiday season, when employees may be more susceptible to phishing scams and online fraud. A new report published Nov. 2, 2017, by Adobe Systems Inc., predicts a 13.8 percent increase in online shopping this holiday season, with 80 percent of ecommerce occurring at major retail sites. The study, Holiday Ecommerce To Hit Record $107B in 2017; Mobile Will Lead in Visits, is based on metadata from Adobe Analytics.

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With the Feb. 1, 2018, deadline for implementation of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) version 3.2 fast approaching, many payment service providers have already deployed new procedures initially released as best practices in 2016. Simultaneously, a vulnerability identified in Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) prototocol has raised security concerns among Android and Linux users. George Mateaki, Security Analyst and Qualified Security Assessor at SecurityMetrics, noted the most significant changes in PCI DSS 3.2 involve increased requirements for service providers such as semi-annual segmentation checks and increased guidance on multifactor authentication.

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Global technical body EMVCo released EMV® Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) – Technical Framework version 1.0 Nov. 2, 2017, a set of guidelines designed to protect in-app, mobile and ecommerce transactions. In addition to reducing exposure to data compromise, SRC will simplify merchant support by creating a new framework for the remote commerce environment, with consistent roles and methodologies for participating parties that manage payment card data, according to EMVCo representatives.

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For payment businesses and merchants ramping up during the year-end holiday crunch, Kount produced a 2017 holiday retail guide. The software-as-a-service platform provider and fraud detection specialist warned that retailers must prepare to combat fraudulent transactions with vigilance during this high-volume season. The company stated it prepared the Merchant Holiday Retail Guide to alert merchants and their service providers about "holiday pitfalls seen from the 2016 season and what merchants can do now for a holly jolly retail season."

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New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman unveiled proposed legislation Nov. 2, 2017, designed to address a data breach epidemic that has roiled New York businesses and consumers. Noting weaknesses in existing state guidelines and infrastructure, Schneiderman said The Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (SHIELD Act) would update laws and security practices and certify companies that meet exemplary service levels. Sponsored by Senator David Carlucci and Assembly member Brian Kavanagh, the measure is receiving bipartisan support from public and private sectors, including the security community, New York Chapter of AARP and Partnership for New York City.

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On Oct. 31, 2017, EMVCo released EMV 3-D Secure – Protocol and Core Functions Specification v2.1.0, an update to version 2.0.0 published in October 2016. The latest version includes enhancements for securing ecommerce transactions across channels and connected devices and will be supported by a new EMVCo testing program for compliant solutions set to launch in 2018. EMV 3-D Secure (3DS) is a messaging protocol that authenticates consumers making card-not-present ecommerce purchases. The updated version offers additional functionality for enabling merchant-initiated account verification, clarifying recurring or installment payment request submittals to issuers, and improving out-of-band authentication transaction flows, according to EMVCo.

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