ISO & Agent

NBS Payment Solutions in Toronto, Canada, has acquired substantially all of the assets of Equinox Payments in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Payment infrastructure systems provider Pay.On plans to combine its distribution network with that of fraud prevention specialist Kount.

In 2014 retailers will focus on reshaping their businesses on products such as merchant-led mobile wallets, which help them engage with consumers throughout the shopping experience.

Acquirers could find themselves looking a lot like marketing firms in the near future.

A professor is suing the payments company Square over charges that he was shut out of the startup he says he helped create.

Payline Data wants to add smaller businesses to its roster of merchant services clients, and figures "no swipe" mobile payments is good way to get in the door.

Amazon.com is developing a person-to-person payments system that would compete against the likes of PayPal, according to a job listing on the e-commerce company's website.

The Electronic Transactions Association has given Total Merchant Services CEO Joe Kaplan a spot on the association's advisory council. In addition, the ETA appointed Paul Rosenfeld, vice president and general manager of Total Merchant Services.

Total System Services CEO Phil Tomlinson took time out from discussing record revenue during the payments processor's Jan. 28th earnings call to proclaim his company safe from the slate of recent data breaches that have afflicted Target and other retailers.

The processor Global Payments Inc. has agreed to acquire Payment Processing Inc. (PayPros), a company that serves mostly smaller merchants.

Finnish bank OP-Pohjola has introduced a mobile point of sale system designed to help consumers take advantage of local tax breaks.

Swedish mobile point of sale company iZettle has launched a software development kit (SDK) to allow other companies to leverage iZettle's technology to build payments services.

Youth payments company Oink has partnered with processor WorldPay in an attempt to broaden its merchant base.

Ingenico's Roam has added staff management functions to its mobile point of sale technology as the company pursues a broader range of businesses.

Health and sports nutrition retailer GNC will deploy Near Field Communication payment readers at more than 3,100 retail locations in the U.S.

Receipts, typically a scrap of paper many shoppers throw away, can be easily reimagined as a tool to improve customer engagement, says Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square.

The EMV Migration Forum has recruited a test group of merchants, retailers and issuers to begin handling EMV-chip cards in Orlando, Fla., early to spot and fix problems before the card networks' deadline of October 2015.

Microsoft has made a series of recent partnerships with payments companies such as AnywhereCommerce, Vantiv and FreedomPay.

Square Inc., the payments startup co-founded by Twitter Inc. Chairman Jack Dorsey, has authorized a tender offer of 1 million shares at $135.28 each, valuing the closely held company at $5 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Toshiba's new entry into the crowded retail mobile payments market is a tablet that can quickly morph back and forth between mobile and more conventional payment methods.