Cards

Canada's right next door and has lots of English speakers, so it might seem the ideal place for American independent sales organizations to expand. But the two countries' business and cultural practices differ in ways that Americans may not expect.

London commuters are supposed to be excited about the prospect of their Tube underground rail system adding acceptance of any bank’s contactless payment card. But it may take time for them to break the habit of using the popular Oyster contactless prepaid transit card.

Mainstream consumers are still slow to adopt newer payment technology, but several cities are pushing ahead of the rest of the world.

Payments processor TransCard LLC is putting a new meaning behind the phrase "time is money." The company is working with Watch2Pay LLC to provide U.S. banks with wristwatches built with MasterCard PayPass contactless chips and linked to a prepaid card account.

Visa Inc. is urging its shareholders to reject a proposal by activist investors that would require the card network to reveal detailed information about its lobbying activities.

A computer hacker from the online activism group “Anonymous” was sentenced in Britain to 18 months in jail for conspiring to attack the websites of Visa Inc., PayPal Inc., MasterCard Inc. and others.

Square Inc. said Chief Operating Officer Keith Rabois has resigned, marking the departure of an executive who has helped the company grow to more than 3 million customers. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar will become acting COO.

Synqera is trying to set itself apart from rivals in the targeted-offer crowd by using point-of-sale hardware with data collection tools that look at everything from weather patterns to the shopper's mood.

MasterCard Inc. aims to benefit the payments industry by converting cash-only consumers around the world to plastic cards and electronic payments.

Thomas W. Swidarski has stepped down from his positions as president and CEO of Diebold and resigned from the company's board of directors under pressure from the board, a spokesman said.

Thomas Swidarski was Diebold's top exec from 2005 to January 2013. It wasn't an easy job.

Tom Swidarski , Diebold Inc.'s president and CEO, is leaving the company after its board decided to pursue new leadership, the ATM maker announced today. He is also leaving its board of directors.

Green Dot is taking a lesson from Radiohead, oddly enough, and giving customers control of one of the company's mobile bank account fees.

Walt Disney Co. is about to distribute "MagicBands," high-tech wristbands that allow Disney World parkgoers to make payments and skip longer lines. Hersheypark tried a similar idea last year, and the results were far from magical.

Citibank India announced the launch of a mobile and tablet card reading device today developed by Ezetap Mobile Solutions.

Amazon.com Inc. has added an in-app purchasing feature for games and other programs developed for the Web, Mac and PC.

Seth Priebatsch, the 24-year-old founder and head of the mobile payment system LevelUp, has made his company a serious player in the emerging payments market — yet he also sports the less-than-serious job title of "chief ninja." The nickname, he explains, has much to do with his approach to running a business.

Walmart and the other Merchant Customer Exchange members recently announced they would opt for a software-based mobile wallet instead of one based on Near Field Communication hardware. Is this a blow to NFC's future or does the technology have enough supporters to eventually change how people pay?

As the U.S. continues its conversion to EMV chip-card technology, the Durbin amendment's requirement for supporting multiple debit networks is presenting yet another challenge to overcome.

Many companies are trying to repurpose iPads as payment terminals. Leaf, a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup, instead created a commerce-specific tablet for small-business owners.