David Heun

Co-op Financial Services just finished an active week, announcing separate deals with MasterCard Inc. and The Members Group that built on past investments.

Cybercrooks have plenty of new tricks up their sleeves to steal card data from merchants. The attacks aren’t likely to let up, mainly because retailer payment and business systems remain a treasure chest for data pirates, a new study says.

Nearly a month has passed since Visa Inc. offered its technology for the creation of a common debit code for EMV chip-card payments — a necessity under federal regulation. Yet it is becoming apparent that issuers remain in a waiting game that could last several more months.

Within five years, companies in the card business will have to choose a new label for their trade, especially if they embrace current technology and trends.

Mobeam Inc. has formed a partnership with an Austrian micro sensor company to create a bar-code format that any point of sale scanner can read for smartphone-based payments or coupon redemption.

Could the cost of preparing the U.S. retail market for EMV smart-card technology over the next few years create problems for some retailers, adding to their burden in an already fragile economy?

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has positioned its merchant processing unit to provide far more services to merchant clients through its 10-year partnership with Visa Inc., a deal which potentially shifts more power to the issuer.

Visa is making several moves to demonstrate that it is willing to adopt new payments products on the Visa network. In an interview with PaymentsSource, Matt Dill, head of global business development and emerging products for Visa, provides a look into the card brand's future.

Amex says it will offer ezeClick to its card members in India as an online payment option that is meant to improve security and speed up the checkout process.

Today, many gas stations add a fee when motorists pay for fuel with a plastic card. Royal Dutch Shell PLC is ramping up promotion on an alternative: pay with the decoupled debit card it introduced in 2009 and save two cents a gallon.

Visa Inc. is providing payment technology developers and mobile network operators with a clearer path to the Visa network.

Paysafecard Group has added an online payment option that eliminates the need for users of the prepaid cards to enter PIN codes for each purchase.

Total System Services Inc. will begin processing LINK ATM transactions throughout the United Kingdom this year.

After gaining momentum last year for its Payzur person-to-person payment system, Atlanta-based online PIN debit provider Acculynk has gone into a higher gear with transactions routing over the Pulse network.

ATMs can serve as more than cash dispensers for gift cards — they can dispense the cards as well, Better ATM Services Inc. says.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi is providing a customer service and security boost for its 570-unit ATM network throughout the United Arab Emirates.

Many merchant payment systems lack the technology needed to safely store card data, resulting in 70% of merchants not meeting data security requirements, a new report says.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council has published its latest data security guidance for merchants accepting payments with smartphones or tablets.

By any measure, a 60-user rollout is small. But it gives MasterCard Inc. a MasterCard Mobile Wallet test that touches many Coles supermarkets across Australia.

With the clock ticking for ATM owners to begin accepting EMV chip cards, BPC Banking Technologies plans to bring software to the U.S. to help banks navigate the complex conversion to smart-card technology on their ATM fleets.