Data and information management

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have agreed to launch preliminary investigations into Operation Choke Point.

Mobile tech providers are racing to incorporate EMV chip-and-PIN or chip-and-signature security into their offerings. But many of these companies are taking fundamentally different approaches to linking EMV and mobile technology.

Co-branding credit card partnerships has never been smooth sailing, but competition has clearly gotten tougher amid Apple Pay's launch.

In what amounts to eliminating password use and evolving the Verified by Visa and SecureCode online authentication processes, MasterCard says a new security protocol it is developing with Visa could be implemented next year.

Square Inc. may have more incentive than other acquirers in urging merchant clients to accept EMV-chip cards, but its pricing strategy could deter some from adopting the secure technology.

Third-party vendors will receive a lot more security scrutiny under new Payment Card Industry security requirements taking hold next year, if merchants are vigilant in following the new compliance guidelines.

Mocapay and Merchant Link are partnering to offer a bundle of mobile payments services that includes data-driven security and loyalty programs, both areas that have held back merchant uptake in the past.

Security passwords that have become common for e-commerce transactions and financial accounts translate poorly to mobile devices, fueling consumers' bad habits regarding weak or reused passwords.

New York’s top banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky, who used his leverage to stiffen penalties against some of the world’s largest financial institutions and also instituted policies friendly to payments startups, will probably step down next year to take a job in the private sector, said a person familiar with the matter.

This is an exciting time to be in the payments industry. The U.S. deadline for the EMV chip-and-PIN migration is officially less than one year away, and Apple Pay recently became available to iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users.

Apple Pay and the card networks' support is boosting tokenization as a security option for mobile payments, though fraud trends suggest an even more layered approach will be necessary.

Acquirers are encouraging vending-machine operators to add card and mobile electronic-payment acceptance, which could represent a whole new category of transactions.

Brick-and-mortar retailers are chasing a missing link for sales and marketing—the deep customer data that e-commerce merchants easily obtain through online orders and shipping information.

Remittance incumbents and digital startups are aggressively dismissing each other in public statements, though both sides have distinct advantages in the battle to control the expanding remittance payments market.

Home Depot Inc., which suffered a data breach between April and September, said 53 million e-mail addresses were taken by hackers during the attack, in addition to the 56 million payment cards that were previously disclosed.

Every day, debt collectors deal with people who have found themselves in tough and sensitive financial situations.

Consumers throughout the U.S. are embracing online shopping, shifting a significant portion of their purchases from retail stores to the web at an ever-increasing pace.

Even though the payments industry earlier this year put an end to the debate over how to comply with a federal mandate for routing EMV debit transactions, the technology still isn't widely available.

In the payments security industry, tokenization initiatives have started to emerge, which would have important ramifications for retailers if they were to take off.

Visa Europe may find itself in a damage control mode after researchers say they found a flaw in the brand's contactless cards, but the organization is expressing confidence in its security.