Payment processing

Payment systems provider ACI Worldwide has completed its acquisition of Online Resources Corp. in an all cash transaction for $3.85 per share—a deal that adds payments and financial services bulk to ACI.

Michael Duffy, president of Chase Paymentech, passed away Thursday night. He was 54. Dan Charron, the executive vice president of client services, has assumed the role of acting head of the Dallas-based merchant acquirer subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase.

Vacation property rental companies and bed-and-breakfast operators will now be able to accept online payments as they book clients through cloud-based WebReserv.com.

Many times, marketing constraints can slow financial institutions' rollout of Fiserv's SpotPay card readers. Fiserv's new spotpay.com website addresses this concern without compromising the vendor's mission of offering the device almost exclusively through banks and credit unions.

PayOne's lawsuit against Home Depot over its use of PayPal's point of sale payments technology is not the first legal battle PayOne has pursued with an entity tied to PayPal — and, the company says, it may not be the last.

BitPay, which processes payments for merchants in the decentralized digital currency Bitcoin, said Monday it recently secured capital from a group of investors that includes Ben Davenport, a software engineer at Facebook; A-Grade Investments, a venture-capital firm that includes Ashton Kutcher; and Trace Mayer, an entrepreneur and blogger.

Payments processor Elavon has formed a division, the Professional Services unit, to help merchants cut costs.

First Data is providing the technology that underpins Foursquare's recent enhancements to its deals service, which allows credit and debit card holders to link their accounts to Foursquare's social network.

A state regulatory body has issued a cease-and-desist order to Square Inc., claiming that the San Francisco-based company is handling payments in Illinois without a license in place to do so.

Spire Payments has purchased Thyron Payments Systems in a deal that will allow Spire to support chip-and-PIN and mobile payments alongside the new Spire payment terminals that are due to roll out in the second quarter.

Crowdfunding technology provider Indiegogo has hired Adyen to provide online payments processing for Indiegogo’s international customers starting with Europe and Canada.

Many merchants still don't take credit or debit cards, usually because of the cost. Two-year-old Plastiq aims to help these holdouts by shifting the cost of card acceptance to the consumer.

A New Jersey appeals court affirmed the airline industry's right to refuse cash in-flight, validating a strategy that began when airlines first accepted credit and debit cards onboard planes in the mid-2000s.

Merchant-funded rewards provider fisoc hopes the communal element of Facebook mixed with special card offers can drive repeat payments volume for small merchants focused on their local communities.

Bitcoinstore, an online seller of computers, monitors, cameras and other electronics, opened for business recently with the promise of undercutting competitors who accept only conventional payments.

Small businesses are often the toughest sell for payments automation, and WePay is attempting to boost its penetration into this market by offering a new native app for iOS that enables remote invoicing and credit-card charging.

Plastiq, a payments technology company, announced a $6 million round of Series A financing.

Within five years, companies in the card business will have to choose a new label for their trade, especially if they embrace current technology and trends.

Affirm, the new mobile payments company that counts PayPal co-founder Max Levchin among its own founders, is already drawing buzz—and some head-scratching over certain aspects of its business model.

If imitation is the sincerest of flattery, then Samsung must really be trying to charm Apple with a new mobile wallet that bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone's Passbook.