Credit

Jack Henry & Associates Inc. announced Sept. 9 it is launching a person-to-person payment system based on technology from iPay Technologies, a company it bought in June. The service, called TheWayiPay, enables online-banking users to send funds to other individuals using only the recipient’s name and e-mail address.

VeriFone Systems Inc. on Sept. 9 announced the acquisition of encryption-services provider Semtek Innovative Solutions Corp., a company in which it previously provided equity funding.

If the U.S. government could mandate the switch to digital TV, why can't it mandate that credit and debit card issuers switch from magnetic stripe cards to the EMV Integrated Circuit Card Specifications to improve security?

The mobile payment tech company Vivotech Inc. said Wednesday that it is working with DeviceFidelity Inc. to provide contactless payment capabilities for smartphones that can accept microSD memory cards.

MasterCard Inc. on Wednesday released a dedicated application for BlackBerry owners who want to use MoneySend, the card company's mobile person-to-person payment system.

ViVOtech and DeviceFidelity announced a joint solution they say brings contactless mobile payment, loyalty, transit, ticketing and coupon redemption capabilities to leading smartphones, including BlackBerrys and iPhones.

Some credit card issuers are using a “dirty trick” to get around the new Credit CARD Act by marketing small-business cards to consumers, according to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Apriva, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based wireless-payments company, on Sept. 8 announced the release of its AprivaPay wireless point-of-sale application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Australia’s taxation authority in September announced plans to seek contacts with various third-party providers to support its e-commerce payments.

Vodacom Pty. Ltd. is teaming with Nedbank Ltd. to launch the M-Pesa mobile cash-transfer service in South Africa, the mobile operator announced last week.

Transaction processor First Data Corp. expects to sign up more than 100,000 merchants by the end of this year for its new TransArmor payment card security product. TransArmor uses a combination of tokenization and encryption to secure transaction data as it passes through merchants’ systems.

Payments-software provider ACI Worldwide Inc. on Sept. 8 announced an extension and a broadening of its contract agreement with First Data Corp. The new agreement will enable the Atlanta-based transaction processor to more cost effectively develop products and drive infrastructure efficiencies in its global operations, ACI notes in a news release.

Obopay Inc. has struck a deal to route person-to-person funds transfers over First Data Corp.'s Star debit network, which accelerates the payments and could make the service more appealing to bank customers.

Tony retailer Bloomingdale’s and American Express Co. on Sept. 7 announced the launch of their cobranded credit card, which, by touting some lofty perks, indicates rewards still will play a key role as card issuers use the offers to compete.

More banks should consider combining their debit and credit card rewards programs, which could better help them stave off customer attrition, according to the results of a survey released Tuesday by Synergistics Research Corp.

MasterCard Worldwide’s recent collaboration with a Belgium-based payment company to improve cross-border online shopping may be a way for the card company to compete with PayPal Inc., one expert contends.

BancVue Ltd., an Austin, Texas-based product-development and marketing company focused on community banks and credit unions, on Sept. 7 announced a strategic partnership in which it will provide Total System Services Inc.’s electronic payments services to community financial institutions.

Tyfone Inc. has received $5 million in financing from HDFC Holdings Ltd., Polaris Software Labe and Ojas Venture Partners, the provider of mobile-banking and mobile contactless-payment technology announced Sept. 7.

A growing number of payments-industry players are concerned that card-fraud rates may begin to rise sharply next year in the United States, one of the only remaining industrialized nations relying solely on magnetic stripe card technology while neighboring nations adopt more-secure EMV chip-and-PIN cards.

The mobile banking train hasn’t left the station yet, but time is running low to be considered an early adopter before the service becomes ubiquitous among banks. In the case of Bank of the West, which introduced its new mobile platform in late August, now’s the time to jump in as more banks will likely view mobile as a must-have in the near future.