Technology

Visa is offering a new data encryption service that could compete with third-party security vendors' offerings. The service's launch also indicates the card brand's growing desire to push beyond the requirements of the Payment Card Industry data security standards.

If the Shazam electronic funds transfer network had its way, smart cards issued with EMV chips would require a single PIN that would both open the chip and route the transaction for settlement. But "that's still under discussion," an exec says.

Canada's government wants to hire a collection agency to recoup an estimated $129 million in unpaid fines, according to a letter of interest.

Issuers exempt from the regulatory caps on debit card interchange are exploring the chance to grow their business-debit initiatives, stealing customers from larger rivals that now see such programs as unprofitable.

Fifth Third Bank is launching a commercial card that has an EMV chip to allow the bank's business customers to make payments overseas.

CreditCall and ChipCap separately announced new readers that handle chip-and-PIN payments from cards that use the EMV standard.

The rumor mill is catching fire as Apple nears its next product launch. Changes to the iPhone, iPad and other systems could affect initiatives at many payments companies.

In a week's time, the mobile payments world was turned upside down as Square announced a major partnership with Starbucks and a radically different pricing option for merchants. Now payments providers are beginning to piece together how they can ride this wave instead of getting crushed underneath it.

Analytics and decision management technology provider Fair Isaac Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Adeptra Ltd., a leader in cloud-based customer engagement and risk-intervention services.

Square is taking a bigger bite at the small-business market by offering flat-fee processing to small merchants, furthering the company's efforts to present itself as a more full-featured option for card acceptance.