Payment processing

Retailers are bombarded with new mobile payment methods. Many merchants chose to move forward with two or more new technologies rather than bet their future on just one mobile wallet.

Google Glass, a headset built by Google to be the next big mobile device, doesn't do much yet. But its features open new possibilities to companies like Square, LevelUp and PayPal as they seek to take over the point of sale.

The mobile billing company Boku and entertainment giant Sony now allow consumers in the U.K. to purchase content from Sony's PlayStation Store by adding the charges to their mobile phone accounts.

Telecommunications company Everything Everywhere Ltd., operating as EE in the U.K., will offer a new mobile payments service to its customers July 17.

MasterCard Inc. asked the European Union’s highest court to overturn a regulatory decision on transaction fees that ended its ability to set rates on cross- border credit-card payments.

Green Dot is taking a cautious approach to accepting remotely deposited personal checks — so cautious that it runs the risk of alienating customers and putting at risk tens of millions of dollars in investments at GoBank, its recently launched branchless operation.

Intuit's decision to shed its digital banking division demonstrates the technology developer's position that banks aren’t the only way to marry merchant services with consumer mobile payments.

The Chicago Transit Authority is planning an August launch for its new fare system that will allow retail and fare payments from the same card.The open standards fare system is called Ventra and was developed through a partnership between Cubic Transportation Systems, MasterCard and First Data. With it, Chicago transit riders can pay for fares on the city's elevated trains (called the "L"), buses and subway that are all operated by the CTA, as well as suburban bus line fares for routes operated by a separate transit authority called Pace.

Payment Alliance International sees an opportunity in the recent fallout of processors, banks, lenders and merchant services vendors that won't work with the firearms industry, and developed a program to provide its processing services to legitimate gun dealers.

Western Union and Commercial Bank of Dubai will launch a co-branded prepaid payroll card in the United Arab Emirates.

Mobile and online payment network RentMoola has partnered with Landlord Web Solutions to offer Web and mobile payments to property managers in Canada.

Braintree, a six-year-old payment processor, says it now handles $10 billion in annual transactions. The milestone comes as the company is steadily growing its international customer base, most recently with the addition of Mojang, the Sweden-based maker of games like Minecraft and Scrolls.

Amazon.com Inc. and 7-Eleven Inc. sued Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. over card fees after rejecting a multibillion-dollar settlement in an antitrust case.

LevelUp will integrate its loyalty and mobile payment technology into the pcAmerica Restaurant Pro Express and Cash Register Express point of sale systems.

Coinstar Inc. is changing its name to reflect the growing number of services that its ubiquitous kiosks provide — a move that in many ways mirrors how the company's flagship coin counters have evolved to become a diversified payments player.

The FTC's move to hold payment processors responsible for the deeds of unscrupulous merchants could result in higher prices or fewer choices for small businesses and consumers.

By entering a partnership to develop new mobile money platforms with global wireless carrier Telefónica, Monitise Plc is expanding the reach of its mobile payments and banking technology beyond financial institutions and traditional payments companies.

The "nuclear football" allows the president to order a nuclear missile attack from any location, and ZenithSecure took its idea for a new data security vault straight from the playbook for protecting those launch codes.

Users of the currency exchange Ripple Network can now make payments in any currency directly to all Bitcoin users, including 8,500 Bitcoin merchants, through a partnership with BitStamp.net.BitStamp.net allows the Ripple Network to convert currencies into bitcoins by accepting payments in any currency and paying merchants in bitcoins. The offering, called Bitcoin Bridge, was announced at the Bitcoin London conference July 2.

Advertising industry payments have become challenging to manage, as expanding media outlets create diverse cash flows between clients, ad agencies and media outlets.That complexity is driving a partnership between AnchorOps, a company that partners with advertising and media agencies to provide electronic payments, audits, reconciliation and software development and Wex, a provider of corporate payment products. The two companies have launched AnchorOps ePay, which customizes payments for advertising and media buying agencies.