Past Articles
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The MAG’s International Expansion
Apr 22, 2024One of the key strategies for the MAG is to develop a comprehensive vision for expanding the MAG's presence in the APAC and European regions and build an international program that aligns with the MAG's mission. This includes leading efforts to engage local merchants within the payments system and fostering collaborative relationships with payment processors, technology providers, and regulatory bodies in these regions.
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Are You Taking Advantage of Your Member Benefits?
Apr 15, 2024The MAG offers a wide variety of benefits to its merchant members – from committees to conferences, advocacy, education, and more, and we want to ensure that you are maximizing your benefits to get the most out of your membership.
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New Educational Offerings!
Apr 8, 2024The MAG is excited to announce that our 200 Level eLearning Series is now FREE to All-Access Merchant Members, and T1 Sponsors! The Merchant Payments 200 Series includes five online payments courses designed for anyone seeking to increase individual skills. Each course focuses on a different topic including Managing a Payments Program, Card Types/Products, Fraud, Chargebacks, Touchless Payments, and Debit Routing.
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Regulation II Review: The Proposed Rate Reduction
Apr 4, 2024Regulation II, the Federal Reserve ruling that regulated debit card interchange in the U.S., has not seen an update since it was issued in 2011. In that time, there have been changes to not only payments technology, but also consumer preferences and shifting channels of commerce. Regulation II has a stipulation in which the Federal Reserve can reassess the debit rate cap and its applicability given issuer costs, and in late 2023 they proposed the first update to the regulated rate since its introduction. Their proposal is open for public comments until May 12, 2024.
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Decoding the QR Code
Apr 1, 2024The Quick Response Code, more commonly known as the QR Code, has become a familiar sight in our daily lives. QR Codes seem to be everywhere these days whether on restaurant tables, plastered to light poles, or at the exhibit booths of your favorite payments conference. How did this come to be? Let’s take a closer look at what QR Codes are, how they work, and why payments professionals should care about them.
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New Age of Customer Interaction
Mar 25, 2024In 2023, EMVCo defined the introduction of minimum acceptable criteria and a supporting approval process for TaptoMobile acceptance devices. These changes have allowed solution providers, the networks and processors to -venture into this new TaptoMobile space.
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MAG’s First Payments MAGnified is in the Books!
Mar 21, 2024Thank you to the record-setting number of attendees who joined us at our first-ever Payments MAGnified at the Hyatt Regency Dallas!
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Growing the Merchant’s Voice Globally
Mar 18, 2024Over the last several years, the MAG has expanded the merchant's voice in the industry through many avenues. In 2019, we added the Tech Forum to include professionals who are responsible for the programming of payments to join our discussions. In 2020, we started engaging with merchants in the APAC area to help understand their needs for a voice in the payment system. In 2021, we launched our Merchant Payments 101, followed by our 200 level courses as well as a Technical course. In 2022, we held our first international summit in Singapore.
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Special Interest Groups (SIG) Highlights
Mar 11, 2024Dating back to our inaugural payments event in October 2008, our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have been some of the highest-rated sessions at every conference. What started as round table discussions during the last hour of our conference, SIGs have been standardized into two one-hour merchant-only sessions, allowing merchants of various industry verticals to discuss the topics that mean the most to them.
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Turbocharging 2024: A Perspective from the New Kid on the Board
Mar 7, 2024I have had the honor of being engaged with the MAG through many different job titles… merchant member, SIG leader, Committee co-chair, MAG staff member, and now Board Member. Through all those titles and phases of my own professional life, what I have learned about payments can be directly tied back to the experiences, connections, people, formal and informal conversations, and education that I’ve received through engagement with the MAG organization.
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Benefits of Being a Tech Forum Sponsor
Feb 26, 2024MAG conferences may have gone through a rebranding, but Tech Forum is here to stay. Tech Forum is a constant area of growth for our organization as the industry faces new and exciting challenges across the payments tech space. From tokenization, PCI compliance, fraud management, software implementation, and more, the MAG continues to seek new and innovative ways to bring together payments technology professionals in a meaningful way.
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CFPB Activites
Jan 30, 2024The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has created a flurry of activity in the past 12 months regarding topics such as open banking, excessive banking fees, and their most recent proposal looks to bring additional oversight to digital wallets currently operating in the U.S. What does this new proposal mean for wallet providers, merchants, and consumers alike?
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Payments Orchestration – Why go there?
Jan 25, 2024This article is not intended to be a history lesson in payments, but it is important to revisit a few innovations to bring the topic of payments orchestration along. Before the history lesson, we need to define payments orchestration. Generally, this is a process that can be developed either internally or with a partner to allow for the use of multiple payment processors, technologies, or acquirers to optimize the payments process and customer experience.
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Need a Professional Development Boost? Let the MAG help!
Jan 23, 2024As a MAG merchant member, there are many opportunities to advance your payments career and expand your knowledge through our professional development resources. Do you lead a team? Use our resources to amplify your team’s performance and build the momentum to move your business forward!
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Why Take a Multi-Acquirer Approach?
Jan 22, 2024Traditionally, merchants would engage a single payment processor for all acquiring needs. However, evolving global requirements and market dynamics have led to a shift, with merchants increasingly opting for multiple providers. Even when a single acquirer could handle a merchant's domestic processing requirements, there are compelling reasons for diversification.
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Don’t Miss MAG’s First Ever Payments MAGnified!
Jan 18, 2024As announced at our last conference, MAG’s February event has undergone changes to not only differentiate our bi-annual conferences but also to continue to evolve in the best direction for our payments community.
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MAG APAC Summit 2023
Jan 16, 2024The Merchant Advisory Group's 2023 APAC Summit on 1-2 November in Singapore proved to be an extraordinary event! It’s remarkable how it has rapidly grown, despite only being our second annual summit in the APAC region.
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2024 MAG’s Strategic Objectives
Jan 10, 20242023 saw a lot of exciting changes in the payments industry, and it’s likely to be another busy year ahead. Planning a successful strategy requires all areas of the organization to work together towards common goals, and the MAG team is no different. Here’s a preview of some of the things you will see from the MAG in 2024.
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Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Migration to Chip Cards - The First of Many Hills to Climb
Jan 2, 2024In late Spring 2023, industry partners began collaborating on an updated ISO spec used for EBT cards to accommodate a migration to chip technology. Sounds easy, right? Most merchants have upgraded to chip card terminals by now, so what's one more card with a chip on it? Many of us active in payments during the initial EMV migration still bear the scars.
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When Less is More, the EMVCo C-8 Contactless Kernel
Dec 6, 2023In October of 2022, EMVCo published a new specification for a contactless kernel. While that may be a yawn-inducing announcement for many people, the potential significance of this specification should not be overlooked.
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