Payment processing

Seeing an opportunity to advance international and online debit transactions and take advantage of a growing mobile payment market, MasterCard is working to establish a debit card presence next year in Canada.

Unless you’ve been completely sequestered away from technology news as well as mainstream news, you probably have heard of the new Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus as well as Apple’s new point of sale ecosystem called Apple Pay.

Modern technology has turned the payments industry into a juggling act, particularly for those charged with deploying new techniques to protect payment card data.

U.K.-based terminal maker Spire Payments has purchased the electronic funds transfer division of STS, a company that provides point of sale payment devices to more than 40 customers across the Middle East.

In my dreams, I can walk up to any cashier and make a payment by waving my hand over a terminal, much like Obi Wan Kenobi's "These aren't the droids you're looking for" trick in Star Wars. And that's all I would have to do.

It's not just merchants, issuers and technology companies that are using mobile technology to sell new payment services. As a business software provider, Intuit has been uniquely positioned to link its products to a number of payment initiatives.

Apple Pay's launch about a month ago was accompanied by an almost unprecedented amount of hype and media attention, but it takes more than buzz to shift the world to mobile payments, and Apple's job is far from over.

Elan Financial Services will use MasterCard's common debit application identifier technology when processing transactions through its MoneyPass ATM network.

Mobile point of sale technology is gaining traction, though providers say the middle market requires a stronger sell.

Payments are proving to be an enticing use case for wearable computing, drawing the attention of companies as varied as amusement parks, banks and phone manufacturers.

The card networks are under pressure in a number of countries, providing ammunition for retailers wanting similar cost adjustments in the U.S.

As the mobile point of sale market matures, more merchants will migrate from smartphones to tablets, which Roam's Scott Holt said requires device-specific changes in design and technology.

The device, known as Clover Mobile, allows merchants to perform a variety of business functions, including scanning inventory and taking payments, using a mobile tablet. Earlier versions of Clover, called Clover Station, were designed to be affixed to a countertop.

Verifone is changing its logo and marketing to signal the many pivots it is making to provide a broader range of services to merchants that must embrace mobile and digital technology to stay relevant.

The Peterbrooke Chocolatier has a new recipe for mobile payments: it's blending Apple Pay with NCR's order-ahead and mobile point of sale technology to engage its customers in a new way.

The Merchant Customer Exchange is facing harsh scrutiny after some of its merchants shut off all Near Field Communication capabilities to show allegiance with the merchant mobile wallet over Apple Pay.

Apple Pay was supposed to deliver a victory blow for Near Field Communication payments, but its launch seems to be doing as much damage as good for the cause of NFC.

Poynt Co., a startup headed by former Google and PayPal executive Osama Bedier, is looking to take advantage of the EMV hardware upgrade schedule to entice merchants to switch to its new app-based payment terminal.

Total System Services is close to beginning tests of new products and merchant services, and is already seeing a benefit from last week's launch of Apple Pay. But in prepaid, a significant business for the processor, TSYS is still awaiting new rules from the government.

A number of large retailers are pushing back against Apple Pay, making clear the power merchants wield in the developing mobile payments market.