Payment processing

At the four-month mark after the U.S. EMV liability shift went into effect, it's still a waiting game; larger issuers and merchants tend to be on top of the chip-card situation and many smaller ones are not, but experts say it's too early to draw conclusions.

The rush to be a "one stop" for merchants by bundling mobile, Web and in-store payment technology is proving to be a heavy lift, in terms of cash, resources and IT skills.

Any way you slice it, 2015 was the year of fintech. From Bitcoin to marketplace lending and everything in between, fintech was a venture capital honey trap and a cocktail party buzzword.

Verifone, which is challenged to move beyond its reliance on selling traditional payments hardware, is producing an almost dizzying array of products in hopes of diversifying.

The pressure on merchant acquirers to enable transactions in more channels for more merchant types is accelerating, and TSYS is turning to the M&A market to accelerate its digital diversification, announcing an agreement with Vista Equity Partners to acquire Vista portfolio company TransFirst for $2.35 billion in cash.

Vending machines were among the first categories to accept contactless mobile payments, but they still rely heavily on cash for impulse snack purchases — at least for now.

Reeling from the loss of the Costco account and other setbacks in 2015, American Express is looking to the future the same way any investor might — banking on the diversification of its portfolio to slowly climb back.

The newest audience flocking to omnichannel shopping is the one no one invited—fraudsters.

Global Payments Inc. has finalized an agreement to distribute Mobeewave’s contactless mobile card acceptance technology to its Canadian clients beginning this spring.

Starbucks has integrated its mobile pre-ordering and payment feature into its Android app in the U.K.

For years, the financial services industry has relied on tactics such as education campaigns, sales pitches and financial penalties to get merchants to upgrade their technology. Ironically, the bad security that led to Target's 2013 data breach may have been the strongest way to deliver this message.

It may seem odd for a vendor of payment acceptance hardware to discredit EMV security, which is commonly seen as a catalyst for hardware sales, but that's exactly what MagTek is doing.

Already facing technology-driven threats to their relevancy, independent sales organizations (ISOs) face another dilemma: should ISOs spread their wings with numerous acquirers and processors, or stick with one that provides the best deal for servicing merchant clients?

Subscription billing is now mainstream. Savvy consumers are happily paying small monthly subscription fees for their favorite products rather than forking over a big up-front payment.

As Square and PayPal push business financing, American Express is adding extra funding options to give businesses a lifeline when spending needs a spike.

Verifone plans to acquire payment technology and switching solutions provider AJB Software, a move that would allow the point of sale hardware maker to offer more services to its acquiring partners as merchants deploy EMV security and mobile wallet acceptance.

Seven years after placing its first smart terminal in Africa as part of a financial inclusion program, French terminal maker Ingenico says the program has progressed to where it now has 50,000 terminals that aid financial services in the region.

Through a partnership with Intel, terminal maker Ingenico Group has developed a contactless payment technology that is being used in a Panasonic tablet.

Avidia Bank has been operating a new integrated platform for a few weeks that brings together third-party processor compliance, risk management, ACH and card payment acceptance, and remote deposit capture on one platform.

To facilitate its push into the U.S. market, Splitit (formerly PayItSimple) recently added its cloud-based interest-free installment payment technology as a free plugin for e-commerce merchants using the WooCommerce platform.