Payment processing

Merchants are wary of the proprietary look and feel of the process by which the card networks and issuers are adopting new security standards.

Bindo wants to combine its cloud-based iPad point of sale product with an online marketplace, similar to how Square's iPad system links merchants to Square Marketplace. This hybrid approach is meant to make Bindo more appealing to local merchants.

Ingenico Group, a French maker of payment terminals, said it's in exclusive talks to acquire GlobalCollect in a deal valuing the target at 820 million euros ($1.1 billion).

The telco is offering Payleven's hardware to enable its small-business customers to comply with an Italian mandate to cut back on cash use.

Revel has added a dashboard for Yelp and Foursquare to its point of sale tablet, giving businesses a way to respond immediately to any complaints or praise posted to social media.

SCVNGR's LevelUp, which is not content to listen only to its merchant clients, is once again giving consumers a voice in evaluating its mobile payments experience.

First Data is under pressure on a several fronts. While tasked with easing its debt, the Atlanta-based processor is also responding to the many disruptions brought by mobile technology and other innovations.

Philip W. Tomlinson, CEO of Total Systems Services (TSYS), will retire on July 31. He will be succeeded by M. Troy Woods, the company's president and COO.

Oracle Corp. agreed to buy Micros Systems Inc. for $5.3 billion as Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison seeks to reignite slowing growth by adding software for hotels and restaurants.

Vend will integrate its payment system with QuickBooks Online, making it the second point of sale company this week (along with Flint) to tout a link to Intuit's accounting software.

KKR & Co., the private-equity firm led by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, led a $3.5 billion private placement for First Data Corp. to help the payment processor it acquired in 2007 repay debt and strengthen its balance sheet.

An issuer's decision to deploy EMV chip-and-signature credit cards in the U.S., rather than the chip-and-PIN model common in other countries, has as much to do with technology constraints as it does with Americans' reluctance to using a PIN.

Payment processor Vantiv Inc. now offers EMV testing software for U.S. merchants to use to validate the steps of their acceptance of chip-based payment cards.

The numerous recent retailer data breaches have led issuers to realize that they may have to replace most of their cards with little or no warning.

Vantiv has completed its acquisition of Mercury Payment Systems.

Mobile POS (mPOS) at retail delivers numerous benefits, including line-busting, managing showrooming, stimulating add-on sales and ordering out-of-stock items. Plus, mobile devices equip associates to run customer loyalty programs, manage inventory and change prices—all from the palm of their hand.

Balanced's new Push to Card program allows its marketplace clients to pay sellers directly onto their debit cards, enabling those sellers to instantly spend those funds.

Merchants are likely to find the final sprint to meet the U.S. EMV liability-shift deadline is a tougher task for them than it is for card issuers.

Tax compliance provider Avalara has made many connections within the payments industry to respond to merchant demand for built-in tax reporting functions at the point of sale.

By the end of 2015, 70% of U.S. credit cards and 41% of U.S. debit cards will be EMV enabled, and chip-and-signature will be preferred by issuers out of the gate, according to a recent survey.