Timeline of Major Events in Payment Processing

As we learned in payment processing, electronic money has a long and varied history. From Western Union’s advances in the late 1800’s to the release of the Google Wallet in 2011, the world has seen vast changes in the way that commerce is conducted on both a local and global scale.  With advances in mobile technology and the continued prevalence of the internet, there is no limit to where payment processing can go in the next 140 years.

Timeline of Major Events in Payment Processing

• 1871 – Western Union introduces money transfer
• 1914 – Western Union introduces first charge card
• 1918 – Federal reserve banks begin to move currency via telegraph
• 1939 – Concept of automatic teller machine created
• 1950 – Dinners club releases first plastic card limited to 27 restaurants in NYC
• 1958 – Bank of America realease the BankAmericard
• 1964 – IBM & American Airlines develop online reservation process
• 1968 – Modern ATM conceptualized
• 1973 – First ATM installed into the Chemical Bank in NYC
• 1979 – Michael Aldrich developed predecscorr to online shopping
• 1981 – Thomson Holidays, UK is first B2B online shopping
• 1982 – Minitel was introduced nationwide in France and used for online ordering.
• 1985 – Nissan UK sells cars and finance with credit checking online from dealers’ lots
• 1986 – Discover Card is unveiled at the Super Bowl
• 1989 – Visa adds electronic signature capability
• 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee writes the first web browser, WorldWideWeb, using a NeXT computer.
• 1994 – Netscape is released promoting online ordering and the needed for SSL encryption
• 1995 – Amazon.com launched by Jeff Bezos
• 1998 – PayPal and the idea of the eWallet developed
• 2000 – Dot.com bust
• 2002 – eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion
• 2004 – Antitrust court ruling against Visa and MasterCard initiated
• 2006 – The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council is formed
• 2008 – Groupon redefines how customers shop for discounts
• 2010 – Durbin Amendment introduced; aimed to reform credit / debit card fees
• 2011 – Google releases Google Wallet

If we have missed any major milestones you feel should be added, please let us know by leaving it in the comments section below…