Cards

After years of providing financial services, Walmart is becoming an even fiercer bank competitor with the addition of American Express’s checking account alternative, the Bluebird prepaid card. 


New companies are constantly entering the payments industry, bringing not just new products but also new ways of doing business. And they don't always play nice.

Walmart and American Express jointly announced the launch of the Bluebird prepaid card, disproving rumors that the planned card had been scuttled.

PayPal was an early supporter of Bump, whose technology could simulate an NFC payment by moving money when users' phones sensed they were being tapped together. But PayPal dropped Bump from its mobile app this year. Where does this leave Bump?

Square, in an effort to boost the appeal of its Register app for merchants, is offering a new perk: marketing space on its own website.

Payleven has elbowed its way into the crowded mobile card-reader device playing field by offering a chip-and-PIN reader that will first debut in Europe near the end of October.

The key to the success of Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), the payments initiative formed by major retailers, may be merchants' motivation to stay in control of their customer relationships.

Investors on occasion are willing to roll the dice, but more often they support companies with potential for a powerful first step in the marketplace. They do not place Near Field Communication payments technology in either category.

Starbucks plans to accept purchases from the Square mobile wallet beginning next month, and it also plans to list all 7,000 of its company-owned stores in the Square directory, the Seattle-based coffee seller said.

Google updated the online portion of its Google Wallet product this week to allow micropayments for digital content, with a short window for refunds.

As new mobile-wallet systems appear and old ones fade, many are asking who will win the “mobile wallet wars.” According to the mobile-pay venture Isis, there may never be a clear winner.

Travelocity is using software tools from Jumio to accept card payments in its lastminute.com hotel deals app.

This week marks the first time incentives take effect for merchants to accept EMV chip-card payments in the U.S., and although many are on that path, there is still plenty of confusion over where payments technology is ultimately heading.

Wal-Mart is opening its stores to multiple prepaid card reload networks — giving its customers the ability to put cash into cards backed by Green Dot, InComm's Vanilla Reload Network and First Data's Money Network.

Investors and payment-industry participants declared the recent partnership between Discover Financial Services and PayPal Inc. a game-changer in payments. But will consumers agree?

A federal court judge on Tuesday posed several tough questions to parties involved in retailers' lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Board's implementation of a law setting a cap on debit interchange fees.

Social media-based payments technology continues to gain traction as processing provider E2E Payments announced it will include social payment startup Buyvite as one of the payment options in its network, alongside traditional credit card, virtual terminals, mobile and other payments products.

Payments industry participants are stepping up to help nonprofits and NGOs improve their ability to collect and distribute donations around the world.

Everyone seems to want the success that Square has in the mobile payments marketplace, and Amazon appears to be the next in line to join the device fray.

Cardtronics Inc. has launched a product that enables financial institutions to steer their customers to ATMs in their surcharge-free networks.