Economy

Amazon.com Inc. has launched a Square-like mobile card reader called Amazon Local Register, charging early adopters just 1.75% per swipe until the end of 2015.

Square Appointments, the company's latest fee-based product, is the first in its lineup that can be used by merchants who do not also use Square to accept payments.

As consumers warm to the idea of using their phones to make payments and manage accounts, they are flocking to merchant apps to do so. Instead of using one unified wallet, a shopper's phone may be stuffed with any of these payment-capable programs.

Wearable computing is suddenly in style. Only a few banks and payment companies offer wristbands, smartwatch apps or Google Glass technology, but those that do are getting valuable feedback from consumers.

ISOs and agents can create a profit center by getting the word out to merchants about the need for tokenization.

Brick-and-mortar merchants want POS systems packed with software that helps manage the entire business on the same device they use to accept payments.

Walt Disney Co.'s experiment in payment-capable wearables can probably be declared a success, with the company reporting that about half of Walt Disney World guests sport MagicBands.

MasterCard is putting its digital payment efforts in the spotlight. The Purchase, N.Y. card network is also adding to the number of non-payment services it offers to digitally focused companies.

If Capital One can lure a highly regarded expert like Dan Makoski from Google to head up the bank's payment technology development, it stands to reason other banks would do the same. Maybe. But it won't be easy, experts say.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has scuttled a list of merchant categories that it said warranted heightened attention from processors.

CardConnect has developed a “one-stop” merchant portal that combines authorization and settlement data to help retailers track and manage transactions.

Square plans to offer a version of its mobile card reader that can read EMV-chip cards, but the added security may come at a cost.

Westpac New Zealand plans to leverage mobile technology on several fronts in the coming year, powering contactless payments while maintaining more control over customer relationships than it would have if it signed on to a telco-led venture.

Mobile devices like tablets and smartphones are helping retailers increase profits, boost productivity and reduce costs.

Apple has big plans for payments, but it's not outspoken about what they are. However, more of its behind-the-scenes efforts are starting to leak; these six reports came in just the past two months.

Operation Choke Point, the federal government’s initiative to use the payments industry to thwart merchant fraud, is forcing ISOs to cope with lawsuits, subpoenas and uncertainty.

Mobile payments now account for over 15% of transactions in U.S. company-operated Starbucks stores, where the company accepts an average of six million mobile transactions every week. This is a sharp increase from a year ago.