Payment processing

Punchey's tossing its hat into the mobile payments ring with a mix of mobile card acceptance, social network-driven marketing and other services designed for merchants that handle larger payments.

For digital payments to flourish, they must get bigger — and bigger payments require stronger authentication.

BuyReply, an Australian startup, is going back to the basics in allowing consumers to purchase items from television and magazine advertisements by sending just an email or a text message — no special hardware or software required.

MasterCard Inc. and telco VimpelCom Ltd. are testing a Near Field Communication-based mobile payments service at a Russian bank.

Tristan O'Tierney, one of Square's team of co-founders is leaving the mobile payments company after four years.

McDonald's and Kuwait International Bank are partnering with Seamless to pilot Seamless' SEQR mobile payment system in Kuwait.

Self-serve digital payments company USA Technologies will be the service provider for Setomatic Systems, a company that provides payment systems to the laundry industry.

Square has completed a major overhaul of the cloud-based Square Wallet, which allows consumers to make purchases from a linked payment card by "checking in" at a Square merchant. Here are some of the key differences in the new Wallet app.

Plastyc Inc. now does business as Banking Up, a name that signifies the direction in which it is taking its prepaid offerings, iBankUP and the UPside Visa card.

BitInstant, a purchasing platform for Bitcoin, is ramping up security by implementing Jumio Inc.'s Netverify software.

Electronic commerce services provider Billeo has purchased Swag.io, an e-commerce platform provider that allows companies to place purchase links directly into social media posts.

Visa Inc. sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in a bid to stop the world's largest retailer from filing a lawsuit to press price-fixing claims over merchant swipe fees.

ShopKeep POS is adding credit card acceptance through PayPal at a 2.7% per-transaction fee, which it says is competitive with other processing options.

Impactorg, a consortium developing mobile payments products for merchants, partnered with Zipmark Inc. to use its digital check service to streamline consumer reloading of its mobile wallet.

Nearly 50% of consumers participating in a WorldPay survey about payment technology say they would like to use biometrics for security.

Total System Services Inc. has named Gaylon Jowers Jr. and Mark D. Pyke senior executive vice presidents, part of a series of promotions and additions the payment processor announced today.

European Union antitrust regulators invited comments on Visa Europe Ltd.’s offer to cut “significantly” the fees it sets for processing cross-border credit-card payments in a bid to end an EU antitrust probe.

Many small merchants operate a website not conducive to accepting payments on mobile devices, and many have not upgraded point of sale terminals to accept mobile payments.

Square Inc. has redesigned its mobile payment app, displaying its merchants as thumbnail images instead of as a list and placing a greater emphasis on discounts and loyalty.

Merchants, acquirers and issuers are preparing to handle EMV-chip debit cards that carry three application identifier codes — from Visa, MasterCard and Discover — as an earlier push to use one common code remains unresolved.