Cards

NEW YORK – Visa told a federal judge yesterday not to grant a stay in final approval for the landmark antitrust settlement, saying a delay would injure millions of merchants waiting for their share of the $7.2 billion payout.

NCR Corp. took on the mission of reinventing itself more than a year ago. Part of that reinvention had to do with transforming from a hardware company into a more diverse provider of software and maintenance services. The addition of Retalix allows NCR to fill the gaps in its offerings for retailers.

Wex Inc., partnering with CashStar, now allows its retailers in Australia and New Zealand to offer customized eGift cards. This move is part of an ongoing strategy on the Wex's part to diversify its offerings and its audience.

With each new mobile-payment function developers create for smartphones, a correlating new security risk arises. The riskiest aspect for merchants, issuers and consumers remains the initial phase — when consumers enroll for a product, says ValidSoft Ltd.

SCVNGR-created LevelUp announced today that it has 500,000 users, which it says is validation of its unconventional approach to point of sale payments.

NCR Corp., a supplier of automated-teller machines and payment systems, has agreed to buy Retalix Ltd. for about $650 million, gaining software and services used in supermarkets.

As if the emerging mobile payments market isn’t complicated enough, new research indicates banks and retailers are rarely on the same page as consumers in terms of how they view new payment technology.

NEW YORK – Federal Judge John Gleeson ordered merchants favoring the proposed antitrust settlement in the Visa and MasterCard suit to tell him by Thursday why he should not stay a final ruling in the case while objectors to the landmark deal appeal portions of his preliminary ruling.

SmartyPig is working with The Bancorp in an effort to resell its consumer savings goal-setting technology to the prepaid card companies and proxy banks that use The Bancorp as a means of storing cash.

Online spending rose 17 percent on the Monday after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest days of the year for Internet retailers, as tablets and smartphones let customers shop anytime and anywhere. EBay mobile sales volume more than doubled on Cyber Monday, compared with the previous year, and PayPal payment volume nearly tripled.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council's participating organizations voted that third-party security assurance and best practices will be the two key areas for the PCI special interest groups to study in 2013.

A JPMorgan Chase branch on Chicago's North Side joins about 100 others that let customers use special kiosks as an alternative to waiting in line at the teller window.

The tentative approval of Visa and MasterCard’s proposed $7.25 billion settlement of a merchant fee price-fixing case will be challenged in a federal appeals court, according to a notice filed by objecting plaintiffs in Brooklyn, New York.

The deal to buy FSV would provide U.S. Bank access to a crucial piece of the prepaid market it can do a lot with — the corporate payroll segment.

WikiLeaks lost more than $50 million in potential donations after Visa Europe, MasterCard and American Express blocked payments to the anti-secrecy group, according to its founder Julian Assange.

NEW YORK -- A group of retailers and trade groups filed notice in federal court today stating they are appealing a key component of last month’s preliminary approval of the landmark antitrust settlement with Visa and MasterCard which would bar merchants from bringing subsequent legal claims in the case even if they object to the settlement.

The vast majority of small merchants are still storing unencrypted card data and most don't even know it, according to statistics compiled by a security vendor.

BillMyParents, which provides a prepaid card for teens, announced that it has appointed William Hernandez as its president.

A prepaid card has traditionally been the financial equivalent of a short-term romance. Good enough for now, but certainly not something to plan your future around.

Rich Rezek, director of global product management for Retail Decisions, talked with PaymentsSource about the complex world that data security has become in the ongoing conflict with organized crime and petty fraudsters.