Technology

A new mobile-commerce wallet from payment-processor Apriva LLC could go a long way toward helping merchants decide whether investing in new mobile-payment hardware is worth the cost.

Green Dot Corp. has been busy lately, closing out its long-awaited and controversial $15.7 million purchase of Bonneville Bancorp and plotting a customer acquisition initiative.

An estimated 1.9 million homes entered the foreclosure process in 2011, the lowest mark since 2007 when the recession began, according to a report by the foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc.

As European banks continue to establish standards for a Single Euro Payments Area, not nearly as much attention has focused on a similar process for ecommerce or mobile payments in the euro zone.

Credit card users have been unusually diligent in paying off their bills recently in the wake of the financial crisis. Their discipline slipped a bit late last year, however, which led revolving credit to post a surprise jump in November.

Total System Services Inc. has added two executives to its senior management group, the processor announced Jan. 12.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly ceased filing lawsuits to collect consumer card and other debts around the nation, dismissing in-house attorneys and virtually shutting down a collections machine that as recently as nine months ago was racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly judgments.

To the editor:

Three data-security and payment processors have linked technologies to create a cloud-based advanced encryption payment system designed to protect payment card data and provide storage away from Columbia Sportswear Co. point-of-sale terminals.

In emerging markets, mobile devices have become more than a default channel to deliver rudimentary services to unbanked consumers. Improvements in handset capabilities and the expansion of the mobile-money model demonstrate a mature, diverse market and one that attracted IBM to make major inroads with a number of banks across Africa in just the past couple of months.