Economy

Technologists are obsessed with it. Banks have invested in it. And unlike most mobile payments products, customers are actually using it. With Square, the Twitter co-founder is on the leading edge — again.

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.

It’s time for the acquiring industry to think about security in broader terms, a compliance and breach reporting vendor says.

First Data Corp. and Fexco Merchant Services, an Irish-based transaction processor, have expanded First Data’s GlobalChoice dynamic currency conversion into Canada.

Wombat Security Technologies has released a training series to help retailers address privacy laws and data-protection mandates.

Sysnet Global Solutions, a provider of compliance services, has acquired Panoptic Security Inc., a vendor of compliance validation services to small and mid-size merchants, independent sales organizations, acquiring banks and credit card processors.

Global eTelecom Inc. and transmodus have integrated GETl’s check and ACH processing into the linked2pay payment gateway.

Network Merchants Inc. has launched the iProcess Mobile Gateway Service, a standalone mobile service for merchants that want to process credit cards through mobile devices.

Google has reinvented its mobile wallet a few times, and its latest incarnation, a rumored plastic card, raises questions about the mobile-payment product’s direction.

At first, payments players seemed wary of the LevelUp mobile-pay system. Now, the startup behind it is quickly building relationships with the very companies it could potentially disrupt.

Merchant cash advance, long considered a niche product ISOs could rely on to add value to a contract, is becoming highly competitive and heavily saturated.

Have some thoughts on the state of the ATM industry? The ATM Industry Association, or ATMIA, and Kahuna ATM Solutions would like to hear them for their annual U.S. Independent ATM Deployer Survey.

Small retailers still aren’t catching on to the Payment Card Industry data security standards, according to recent survey results.

The Northeast Acquirers Association hopes to raise $50,000 to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy through a silent auction in January at its Winter Seminar and Outing at Mount Snow, Vt.

Even if most issuers meet the card brands’ EMV migration deadline of October, 2015 for smartcard preparedness, fraudsters will focus attacks on a “honey pot” of issuers lagging behind.

Though Heartland Payment Systems claims its “Durbin Dollars” debit-pricing campaign contributed to its most profitable quarter ever, the processor is also encountering the limitations of that model at a time when many new technologies threaten to disrupt the way the payments industry does business.

Taking a cue from the insurance business, Priority Payment Systems LLC is lending its name, prestige and marketing power to its ISOs and agents.

CHICAGO – Paul Whitmore bluntly assessed what he views as a “mess” -- the state of payments in the United States.

A new loyalty scheme from TSYS uses consumer-behavior data to shape individualized rewards, and ISOs can promote the system to merchants.

Mindful that the industry needs a steady influx of youthful beginners, ISOs are taking steps to make it happen. And they're conmpeting with savvy companies like Square, Google and PayPal, which are actively recruiting young blood.