Will Hernandez

The "just add iPhone" variety of mobile card readers, originally pitched as a compromise for small merchants that do not want or need a full payment terminal, is maturing as a viable payment option for merchants worldwide.

First Data Corp.'s decision to support Acculynk Inc.'s PaySecure Internet PIN-debit payment system could give debit payments a boost at a time when banks have doubts about the future of debit cards.

Univision Communications Inc. has started a media campaign to promote surcharge-free automated teller machine access for holders of its prepaid cards.

Total System Services Inc. of Columbus, Ga., has entered into a partnership that will allow it to begin providing secure mobile payment, loyalty and commerce functionality to companies involved in facilitating mobile transactions, regardless of form factor.

NetSpend Holdings Inc. is launching a rewards program for its prepaid debit cardholders using a merchant-funded system provided by Cardlytics Inc.

Visa Canada is standing by its no-surcharge policies, and claims the Canadian Competition Bureau's legal challenge against those policies would be harmful to consumers if successful.

The Shazam electronic funds network has made a "strategic investment" in Adaptive Payments, a payment-authentication company that has developed technology that uses phone calls to help verify Internet PIN-debit transactions.

Acculynk Inc. is taking its online PIN debit payment system, PaySecure, and adapting it for smartphones. Starting later this quarter, participating merchants may integrate PaySecure into a mobile application's checkout process as a payment option.

Catalina Card Services Inc. is trying to differentiate itself in the crowded general-purpose prepaid debit card market with a product that offers cardholders low-cost mobile phone services.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC has agreed to supply automated teller machine and debit card transaction processing and other services to six credit unions.

Pitney Bowes Inc., best known for manufacturing postage meter machines, has created an online bill-payment system.

The Kardashian sisters may be shaking up the celebrity-endorsed prepaid card business. After the quick failure of their prepaid card in November, other cards are changing their fees, including hip-hop and fashion star Russell Simmons' card line.

Fifth Third Bancorp plans this year to adopt CashEdge Inc.'s Popmoney electronic payment service, which lets people transfer funds to another person's bank account through the automated clearing house system.

Since major banks have updated their ATMs with advanced features, manufacturers are predicting a strong influx of business from smaller financial institutions playing catch-up.

As major banks updated their ATMs with advanced features, manufacturers predict a strong influx of business from smaller financial institutions playing catch-up.

Think Computer Corp. is adding digital coupons to FaceCash, a mobile payment system that it says fights fraud through a facial-identification system.

After making its Angry Birds the dominant game on two mobile platforms, the developer Rovio Mobile is taking flight in a new line: payments.

Tesco Bank, which is owned by the supermarket chain Tesco PLC, has agreed to put Blackhawk Network Inc.'s gift card mall displays in each of its 600 U.K. sites.

Though debit issuers' share prices suffered last week after the Federal Reserve Board proposed its cap on interchange fees, investors then favored automated teller machine makers in anticipation of a shift to cash.

Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are alleged by the Competition Bureau in Canada to have imposed restrictive and anticompetitive rules on merchants who accept their cards.