Economy

Merchant groups say a U.S. Justice Department settlement does not go far enough to prevent Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide from engaging in anti-competitive practices.

When Congress threatened to cap the interchange fees that banks collect on debit card transactions, the industry argued that such a move would force it to kill off its own debit rewards schemes. As it turns out, the demise of those programs might inconvenience consumers but is unlikely to deal the industry much of a financial blow.

NEW YORK – The Department of Justice filed papers yesterday to implement the settlement of its antitrust suit against Visa and MasterCard, which will prevent the two card networks from barring merchants from steering transactions to lower-cost cards.

Tyfone Inc. has received a patent for programming add-on smart cards in a mobile phone to function as a payment account.

American Express Co. is making its boldest move yet in the prepaid market by introducing a reloadable card that carries almost no fees.

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia has dismissed a suit by Diebold Inc. requesting its insurer cover $6 million in losses from the theft by ATM supplier Tri-States Armored Services of some $50 million of cash it was supposed to be using to replenish ATMs.

NEW ORLEANS–One of the prevailing themes of this year’s Mobile Banking Summit is there is nothing inherently wrong with plastic cards. A number of speakers, panelists and attendees with a major stake in mobile payments all acknowledge that cards work well, leaving a steep hill to climb to get consumers to use their phones to make payments.

WASHINGTON — In a nail-biting conclusion to weeks of fierce lobbying by bankers and retailers, the Senate defeated a bill June 8 that would have delayed the Federal Reserve Board's proposal to cap interchange fees for debit cards.

WASHINGTON — Just hours before the Senate votes on the biggest post-Dodd-Frank bill for the industry, no one in Washington knows what the outcome will be.

WASHINGTON – Lobbyists were pulling out all the stops last night to round up a few more votes for their bid to delay cuts in debit fees, but the effort was still a handful of votes short.

First Data Corp. will play several key roles in the launch of Google Wallet, and while analysts applaud the firm’s moves to capitalize on mobile payments’ growth, they note certain risks and uncertainties the company faces venturing into new territory.

A recent round of funding will help eWise Systems USA Inc. support its online Secure Vault Payments and develop a mobile version of the payment method, according to the company’s top executive.

Google Inc. isn't asking for a share of the payments revenue generated with its new mobile wallet. Nevertheless, partnering with the search engine juggernaut could bring a trade-off.

VeriFone Systems Inc. is expanding beyond building payment terminals by sharpening its focus on mobile payments, digital wallet services and fraud prevention.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Public Interest Group, a consumer lobby on Capitol Hill, called on lawmakers to reject efforts to delay implementation of the cuts in debit fees, saying the issue has been studied long enough and the cuts will help consumers.

By Harry Terris

VeriFone Systems Inc. on June 2 reported a 24.8% rise in second quarter net income, to $25.2 million from $20.2 million the same period a year earlier. Net revenue rose 21.5%, to $292.4 million in the quarter ended April 30 from $$240.7 million.

Financial Institutions around the country are blocking thousands of debit cards as they struggle to contain the latest nationwide data breach at Michaels Stores.

More U.S. issuers are committing to issuing EMV cards, commonly called chip-and-PIN for their primary security feature — but if you listen closely, you can hear the PIN drop.