Merchant

Visa Inc. is making inroads into the world of third-party software development, bolstering its ability to compete in e-commerce payments.

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s move to buy the point-of-sale terminal business of the France-based card maker Gemalto NV could be especially helpful in the event that its attempt to buy rival Hypercom Corp. fails.

Overnight, young mobile-payment company Bling Nation Ltd. became visible to 4 million smartphone users.

State Bank of India Ltd. soon plans to begin offering merchant-acquiring services through a new joint venture company after it finalizes how much equity each of the venture partners holds, a spokesperson for the Mumbai-based bank confirms to PaymentsSource.

A second merchant acquirer in Brazil and a payment processor in Ecuador will install a combined 26,500 Hypercom Corp. point-of-sale terminals by the end of the year, the terminal maker announced in separate releases this week.

The Federal Trade Commission told the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday that the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) imposes requirements on Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) - which include the three major credit bureaus - and on employers that use the information “to ensure that sensitive consumer report information is used with fairness, impartiality and respect for consumers’ privacy.”

A cacophony of marketing voices is urging ISOs and acquirers to consider mobile point-of-sale services as a way to grow revenue and potentially reach new merchants.

Spartked by a 14% increase in cardmember spending, American Express Co. Oct. 21 reported net income of $1.1 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up 71.9% from $640 million during the same period last year. Total revenue net of interest rose 39.6%, to $6.7 billion from $4.8 billion.

Companies continue to release mobile point-of-sale acceptance services amid few, if any, signs of the trend abating.

ISOs and acquirers will have work to do because of the Federal Reserve Board’s impending regulations that will set policy for establishing “reasonable and proportional” debit card interchange rates, panelists at the Western States Acquirers Association conference in San Diego told attendees last week.