Technology

It used to be that chargebacks were just another cost of doing business. But with the e-commerce world growing by leaps and bounds, online merchants are experiencing a corresponding spike in chargeback rates that's eroding their bottom lines and jeopardizing their merchant accounts.

Merchants today face the daunting task of investing in several payment technology upgrades at once, and the confusion surrounding this process could bolster many pre-existing security vulnerabilities, argues point of sale security expert Chris Strand.

While Apple Pay has been received favorably since its launch last year, Google was technically the first mobile payments system on the block with their since re-branded Google Wallet. Android Pay is their latest foray into mobile payments and Google is set to drive agenda forward with significant advantages in adoption, capability, and compatibility.

Q2, in Austin, Texas, paid $10.6 million to acquire all outstanding interests in Social Money, according to a Tuesday news release. The purchase price was subject to a customary working capital adjustment.

Target has agreed to pay $39 million to settle loss claims from a two-year-old data breach that were brought by MasterCard and a group of financial institutions, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Paychex in Rochester, N.Y., has entered an agreement to acquire Advance Partners in Cleveland.

Lloyds Banking Group in the U.K. has made Deborah McWhinney its third nonexecutive director. She joined the board at Lloyds Monday and also serves on its audit and risk committees.

The long-running tension between anti-money-laundering rules and data privacy concerns is especially pronounced in the awkward relationship between regulated financial institutions and digital currency businesses.

Unlike the high-profile hacking incidents at big banks, smaller institutions have their own breed of threats such as cyberextortion that they must focus on in strengthening their security.

Krispy Kreme's new payment and loyalty app is betting big on customers' appetite for donating to charity.