Technology

The economy may be crawling back to normal in some sectors, but credit card industry revenue continues to fall, according to one longtime observer.

Credit card issuers failing to promote recurring-payments options appear to be missing a significant opportunity to establish a fixed source of revenue and a means to reduce charge-offs.

Which has their heads in the clouds? Merchants and consumers who fear a lack of data security in a cloud-based payment system? Or the vendors selling the systems that assure they are safer than centralized security platforms?

If mobile-payment technology providers stub their toes with security, or if merchants deem a vendor’s mobile payments too complex, another company likely is working to resolve the problem.

Ask Texas banker Edward Smith for the key to surviving the worst economic slump in recent memory and he's apt to give a simple response: guns and ammo.

The recent discovery of payment-terminal tampering at 24 outlets of California’s Lucky Supermarkets chain is raising fresh questions about the possible role of insiders in such highly coordinated crimes.

In a trend that gained strength the past year, payments and fraud-protection software and hardware providers continue to view Latin America as a land of opportunity.

A court in the United Arab Emirates has passed a landmark card-fraud judgment, laying the legal ground rules for the responsibilities of all involved parties, including card issuers, cardholders and merchants.

Verizon Wireless plans next month to impose a $2 fee for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit cards, the telecommunication company announced Dec. 30.

The explosion of mobile applications, especially those involving banking and payments, is almost certain to lead to ingenious new hacker attacks on consumer data next year. After all, why should 2012 be different from any other year, as crooks continually look for holes in security in hopes of reaping financial rewards?