Online payments

MasterCard has added Lulu Hypermarket and Auchan Italy to fundraising efforts tied to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).

Wired is deploying MasterCard technology that is designed to allow readers to purchase items directly from advertising and editorial content.

Ukash provides its online payments services in 55 countries with more than 420,000 locations worldwide. But it has so far steered clear of the U.S.

First Data's OfferWise platform, which allows consumers to obtain discounts linked to a pre-enrolled payment card, is now linked to Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Online payment provider BlueSnap will provide its global payments gateway software to Voxy, a New York-based company that offers language-learning courses online and through smartphones.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express introduced a proposed framework for new global standards that would replace traditional account numbers with a digital payment "token" for online and mobile transactions.

PCI services and merchant intelligence provider Sysnet Global Solutions is working with iScan Online, which specializes in security scanning of devices, to provide acquirers with new mobile security.

The PCI council continues to expand its reach, with the intent of remaining a strong guide for data security well into the future.

PayPal's $800 million deal to buy the payments processor Braintree fuels a fast-paced acquisition streak that has granted PayPal some of most disruptive technology — and people — in the payments industry.

CardSpring has launched CardSpring Connect, bringing marketing tools and online performance tracking to its local business clients and enabling them to create online-to-offline promotions.

Three banks in France have launched Paylib, a PayPal-like online payment system — and they're betting that France is just different enough that they can succeed on their home turf with a strategy that has had mixed results in the U.S.

PayPal’s reported plans to acquire Braintree would give it more than just a payment processor that moves $10 billion a year. If this marriage takes place, it would signal a shift in how payments companies think about technology.

The U.S. payments system must continue its push to overcome the challenges inherent in creating a near real-time retail payment option, says Sandra Pianalto, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Simplee, which provides a cloud-based patient payments system, received a $10 million investment led by Heritage Group, which represents the top hospital systems in the U.S.

MasterCard and e-invoicing provider Basware will offer an electronic payments system designed to speed payments and approvals for suppliers and extend payment terms for buyers.

A substantial majority of payments in the U.S. and Canada are non-cash, placing the two countries close to being cashless, MasterCard reported Sept. 23.

Payment processing software company ACI Worldwide has entered an agreement to buy Official Payments Holdings, a seller of electronic bill payment technology.

Vantiv plans to release a suite of services next week to target different parts of the casino industry.

Smaller merchants wanting a foothold in the vast Internet now have the option to open a Heartland Online Storefront.

As some companies attempt to transform hashtags, the keywords and phrases that make content searchable on Twitter and Facebook, into a trigger for a payment, Chirpify aims to let the tags live a double life through its new actiontag system.