Merchant

First Data Corp. on Aug. 10 reported a net loss attributable to the company of $171.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30, down from the $195.9 million loss the transaction processor reported during the same period last year. Revenues totaled $2.61 billion, up 18.1% from $2.21 billion, driven by the formation of the Banc of America Merchant Services LLC alliance.

Mall Networks, a manager of merchant-funded rewards programs, reported Monday that its fiscal 2010 revenue grew by more than 100%, and announced its renaming as Cartera Commerce Inc.

PayPal Inc. is planning to turn off its PayPal Plug-In service, which lets users fund purchases at merchants that do not typically accept PayPal.

The $3 billion price Advent International Corp. and Bain Capital LLC will pay for an 80% stake in RBS WorldPay, the payment-processing arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, may point to an imbalance in value between privately held and publicly held payment processors, suggests David J. Koning, a senior research analyst at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co.

Social networking sites help people share personal and sometimes business information with others through an avenue designed to make it easy - whether it involves text, pictures, documents, music or videos.

Arizona state government officials are stepping up efforts to thwart criminals from skimming consumers’ credit and debit card information at gasoline stations in response to a recent uptick of such incidents.

ILoveVelvet, a New York-based payment-technology company, says its new Velvet Suite products can enable merchants to use Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad devices as retail point-of-sale terminals.

HSBC Finance Corp. has promoted Patrick “Pat” Burke to CEO of the company’s U.S. consumer finance division. Burke also serves as senior vide president and CEO of HSBC’s credit card and retail business. He succeeds Niall Booker, who was recently promoted to CEO of HSBC North America Holdings Inc.

Global private equity firms Bain Capital and Advent International on Aug. 6 signed an agreement with The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC to acquire its subsidiary business, RBS WorldPay, for an enterprise value of up to £2.025 billion (US$3.2 billion or 2.44 billion euros), including a £200 million contingent consideration.

Shortages of key components cost Hypercom Corp. $6 million in second-quarter product revenue, despite strong demand for the company’s point-of-sale products and services, says Philippe Tartavull, Hypercom CEO and president, during an Aug. 4 conference call to discuss earnings with analysts.