Technology

Western Union Co. is expanding an initiative to enable Kenyan migrants to send funds to recipients in their home country who subscribe to Safaricon’s M-Pesa mobile wallet, the companies announced March 31.

Global Collect B.V. has signed an agreement to process credit card payments for Royal Jordanian Airlines, the companies announced March 28.

A San Francisco-based company on March 30 announced its introduction of a modular set of software frameworks and applications designed to facilitate deployment of Near Field Communication payments and other contactless services by resolving fragmentation and interoperability issues affecting NFC software and hardware installations.

A coalition representing consumers this week is urging lawmakers to oppose legislation that would put the brakes on proposed debit-interchange rate reductions, while a group of 7-Eleven Inc. franchisees similarly is vowing to keep lobbying Congress to oppose such a delay.

Google Inc. is joining the NFC Forum, a nonprofit association that sets technical specifications for how businesses use Near Field Communication technology for payments applications and other services.

Gemalto NV is offering a software package for MasterCard Worldwide’s PayPass contactless payment system, the chip maker announced March 30.

Besides making the process easier for merchants, a good payment-security vendor can ease the burden of Payment Card Industry data-security standards compliance for independent sales organizations, a growing number of ISOs are finding.

The Smart Card Alliance’s transportation council this year plans to continue its focus in support of open-loop contactless transit payment card systems as more cities realize the potential benefits over closed-loop systems, according to an organization executive.

The Federal Reserve Board’s decision this week to take more time to analyze comments before finalizing its proposed debit-interchange rules could mean the final rules might not take as big a bite out of issuer revenue, some analysts believe.

Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and several leading Canadian banks that issue their cards face being included in proposed national class-action litigation tied to a lawsuit filed March 28 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The suit alleges the card networks and their major issuers conspired to fix prices on fees merchants ultimately pay to accept cards.