Merchant

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a plan Thursday to overhaul the debt collection industry that would limit collection attempts to six per week and require confirmation of a debt before contacting consumers. The plan, however, is not yet directed at banks and credit card companies.

TSYS is beginning to integrate its $2.4 billion acquisition of TransFirst, an initiative the Columbus, Ga.-based processor hopes will substantially extend its ability to serve merchants in the high-pressure arena of multichannel commerce.

More than 40% of consumers with complaints about debt collections say they were asked to pay debts they didn't owe. There are a host of reasons for the problem, including inscrutable legal disclosures.

The marriage of in-store shopping, online ordering and mobile commerce is happening just as fast for retailers as it is for consumers.

Pokémon Go has taken the US by storm, to put it mildly. For an app that was released very recently, it already has more users than Twitter and is beating Facebook on daily engagement.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to unveil a sweeping proposal on debt collection practices this week that would force banks and credit card companies for the first time to comply with federal restrictions. It said the plan would put an end to some of the most egregious practices in the $13.7 billion debt collection industry.

Virgin Money Holdings, the bank backed by billionaire Richard Branson, postponed plans to start lending to small businesses as Britain faces a potential economic slowdown after voting to leave the European Union.

When it comes to filling up at the gas pump and making other everyday purchases, consumers are forgoing cash and using credit cards and debit cards. Retailers are upgrading their systems to keep up with changing payment trends, which is driving demand for payment service providers.

In many emerging markets, daily financial transactions—buying groceries, paying a utility bill, cashing a paycheck or billing a customer—are notoriously difficult. Banking institutions are few and far between, and large swaths of the population have little or no access to them.

A year from now, Sionic Mobile will have distributed 100,000 free iBeacons to small businesses, a $1 million marketing play the company hopes secures its place among local stores as they start to adopt mobile technologies.