Merchant

The new optimism is fueled by rising standards of living, increases in smartphone usage and cheap data plans that are boosting internet penetration across the nation. Perhaps most important, India is the last big retail market still up for grabs, with an internet economy projected to double to $250 billion by 2020.

New Merchant Advisory Group chief John Drechny will push open standards for payments acceptance and security technology that doesn't impact customer experience.

Nedbank Money users can store payment card data in just one app for all the main South African scan-to-pay schemes, representing a combined footprint of over 100,000 retail points of presence and 800 billers.

There is space for banks to enter a market they largely ignore, according to William Phelan, president of PayNet.

The Lightning Connector eliminates the need for merchants using the Square Reader to rely on a 3.5mm headphone jack of a smartphone or tablet to operate with its mobile app.

Everything's in place for mobile payments to supplant plastic cards in the U.S. — except for a compelling reason for the transition.

Institutions must enhance their fraud prevention strategy, and the most effective and successful way for doing so is by empowering customers to detect and respond to suspicious activity before the funds ever leave their account, writes Deborah Peace, CEO of ACH Alert.

To expand its Asia Pacific regional reward redemption program, Pay with Points, Citi announced that it is enabling credit cardholders to spend their rewards points and miles to pay for a Spotify premium account.

The Texas bank, which partners with the U.S. Treasury to dispense federal benefits via prepaid cards, is alleged to have dropped the ball as hundreds of cardholders say their money was forwarded to fraudsters posing as them.

Citigroup was so impressed with a test drive of AI software it invested in its maker; the FBI's warning of a cyberattack targeting ATMs came to pass — expect more to come; debating whether state AGs can serve as de facto CFPBs; and more from this week's most-read stories.