Cards

The payments processor Total System Services has signed an agreement with KBC Bank Ireland to launch the bank's debit card portfolio in Ireland.

LevelUp founder Seth Priebatsch could barely contain his excitement when discussing the possibilities of Google Glass, a mobile device built into a headset that Google sells only to a limited number of early adopters.

Retailers are bombarded with new mobile payment methods. Many merchants chose to move forward with two or more new technologies rather than bet their future on just one mobile wallet.

Google Glass, a headset built by Google to be the next big mobile device, doesn't do much yet. But its features open new possibilities to companies like Square, LevelUp and PayPal as they seek to take over the point of sale.

The mobile billing company Boku and entertainment giant Sony now allow consumers in the U.K. to purchase content from Sony's PlayStation Store by adding the charges to their mobile phone accounts.

BOSTON – A federal appeals court denied a request from Albert Gonzalez, the one-time government informant convicted of stealing into the data bases of TJX Cos., Heartland Payment Systems, BJ Wholesale Club, Hannaford Bros. and several others of the nation’s biggest retailers, effectively upholding a 20-year prison sentence he agreed to as part of a 2010 plea deal.

The Chicago Transit Authority is planning an August launch for its new fare system that will allow retail and fare payments from the same card.The open standards fare system is called Ventra and was developed through a partnership between Cubic Transportation Systems, MasterCard and First Data. With it, Chicago transit riders can pay for fares on the city's elevated trains (called the "L"), buses and subway that are all operated by the CTA, as well as suburban bus line fares for routes operated by a separate transit authority called Pace.

Western Union and Commercial Bank of Dubai will launch a co-branded prepaid payroll card in the United Arab Emirates.

Amazon.com Inc. and 7-Eleven Inc. sued Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. over card fees after rejecting a multibillion-dollar settlement in an antitrust case.

The "nuclear football" allows the president to order a nuclear missile attack from any location, and ZenithSecure took its idea for a new data security vault straight from the playbook for protecting those launch codes.

Members of the EMV Migration Forum are recommending a single common debit code for EMV transactions in the U.S. and plan to provide details later this summer for how the payments industry can implement it.

Card processor and merchant acquirer Clearent is working with Reward4Schools to help the Missouri-based community rewards provider reach a national audience.

As Citigroup has gotten acclimated with person-to-person payments, it's starting to loosen the restrictions on Popmoney, the Fiserv technology it offers to online banking customers.

Square Inc. has ended its gift card service, according to a report from Reuters, about half a year after launching the program.

Birch Coffee has used Square's mobile card reader for its delivery service for about two years, and was one of the first to switch to the new Square Market e-commerce site ahead its launch.

MasterCard has begun offering U.S. merchants and developers Simplify Commerce, a product of MasterCard labs, the Purchase, N.Y. card network's research and development lab.

It's been an eventful year so far in the payments industry. Exciting new technologies, dramatic executive turnover and ongoing courtroom drama have defined 2013's first six months.

When federal and state government agencies supplement direct deposit with an option to receive funds loaded on a prepaid debit card, they lower costs, improve security and enhance services by replacing traditional checks, concludes a report issued this week by the Association of Government Accountants.

Space travel and tourism are achievable dreams for the near future, and PayPal aims to reach the final frontier before its rivals do.

Vantiv and Planet Payment have launched the Pay in Your Currency service at 85 Billabong locations in the U.S.