Payment processing

Social media-based payments technology continues to gain traction as processing provider E2E Payments announced it will include social payment startup Buyvite as one of the payment options in its network, alongside traditional credit card, virtual terminals, mobile and other payments products.

Payments industry participants are stepping up to help nonprofits and NGOs improve their ability to collect and distribute donations around the world.

The battle over interchange fees moves to its next phase Tuesday when a federal judge hears complaints from merchants that the Federal Reserve’s cap on the fees not go far enough.

Because Google Inc. stubbed its public relations toe earlier this year when a security firm “hacker” was able to gain access to the Google Wallet’s secure element in a smartphone and steal or wipe out PINs, it was no surprise the company made the leap to store card data in the cloud.

Although American Express received lighter fines than the two previous credit card players targeted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, many believe the CFPB’s third enforcement action is its biggest statement yet.

Attendance reached a record-breaking 874 at the Western States Acquirers Association 2012 Conference last week in Huntington Beach, Calif., up from the previous record of 722 set last year in Burlingame, Calif.

Capital Access Network Inc. is expanding its annual funding capacity to $1 billion.

One year after the Durbin Amendment slashed debit interchange payments to banks, there’s scant evidence that retailers are lowering prices as promised.

Fidelity National Information Systems announced the introduction of its own global real-time payments network for domestic and international money movement for both retail and commercial trade.

Global Payments Inc. is banking on a recent acquisition in the health care market and involvement in the Discover Financial Services and PayPal Inc. partnership to help eventually offset a 26% tumble in first quarter income for fiscal 2013 because of the security breach it endured last March.

Mobile wallets promise simpler payments, but the road to get there has been bumpy and, quite often, bizarre.

Teaming up with PayPal is consistent with other Discover Financial Services agreements that stress the card brand’s payments strategy of being “the most flexible partner for a number of other players,” Discover Chairman and CEO David Nelms says.

Salespeople usually can’t do anything about it when a processor or independent sales organization cancels the residuals earned from signing up merchants for transaction processing.

The telecommunications companies behind the Isis mobile wallet joint venture have had Salt Lake City in their sights as a testing ground for the past year. But recent delays in the Isis rollout have opened the door for direct competitor Google Wallet to continue to gain as much momentum as possible with its mobile pay system.

The date for U.S. merchants to start benefiting from preparing early for EMV smart card technology at the point of sale lurks next week. Unfortunately, the future of payments technology won’t come into clearer focus for merchants that quickly.

A provision within the hotly contested settlement between merchants and credit card networks could potentially slow PayPal’s bid to become more widely accepted at grocery stores, restaurants and other retailers.

Recent bitcoin thefts may appear to be a security threat that could potentially invalidate the cryptocurrency, but proponents argue that it’s the stability of the digital exchanges where the thefts have occurred that are more at risk.

New players are disrupting the established order and taking market share from independent sales organizations. This rapid pace of change in payments may drive many ISOs out of business, speakers said at an industry event.

Bankers “wake up in the middle of the night” worrying about data breaches in the U.S. payment system, a Citigroup executive said this week.

Spire Payments will partner with technology investor Newland Computers in developing future products and rolling out a new line of point-of-sale terminals.