Payment processing

In its first major play to connect its mobile-payments service with social media, Starbucks Coffee Co. on June 30 unveiled a mobile-payment application it developed in-house that consolidates the features of previous apps with links to enable users to send Starbucks gift cards via Facebook.

States’ efforts to rein in fly-by-night companies are starting to have an effect on some payments startups’ operations.

Those attending the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games may find paying for their cab rides will be a bit quicker and easier.

Technology vendor Fiserv Inc. is making a bold move to bolster its digital payments arsenal by shelling out $465 million to buy the smaller technology company CashEdge Inc.

MasterCard Worldwide has moved forward in its efforts to become a bigger player in Chinese payments industry under a new agreement with China UnionPay, the country’s national bank card association.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday suggested raising the debit interchange fee cap to 21 cents per transaction, but it gave banks a little bit of leeway to charge even more if they meet certain fraud prevention standards.

Yet another mobile-commerce venture is being formed, and this one could have some staying power, according to an analyst familiar with the deal.

Mobile-payments startup Square Inc.’s $100 million venture-capital avalanche announced June 29 could mean that the company’s transaction volume is gaining significant momentum despite its lack of profits, one analyst contends.

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday suggested raising the debit interchange fee cap to 26 cents per transaction – more than double its initial proposal of 12 cents.

WASHINGTON — On the eve of the much-anticipated release of a final rule on debit card swipe fees, the lobbying group for retailers made a final plea that the Federal Reserve Board maintain its initial proposal of 12 cents per transaction.

In a move that could help stave off defection among its multinational customers seeking global commercial card capabilities, U.S. Bancorp on June 28 said its subsidiary Elavon Financial Services Ltd. soon will begin issuing commercial cards in Europe through a new processing agreement it inked with Total System Services Inc., or TSYS.

Citing “shortcomings” with the technology, Australia’s ANZ Banking Group Ltd. has halted development of a microSD iPhone case designed to turn a smartphone into a payment device.

In an exclusive deal for MasterCard Worldwide, Indigo Books & Music Inc.’s plans to deploy terminals that accept the card brand’s PayPass contactless payments in all its stores marks the first such development for a retailer of its kind.

Fifth Third Bancorp is working with health care software company Emdeon Inc. to strengthen the bank’s RevLink Solutions platform, which health care providers use for handling payment transactions and remittance information.

Mobile payments in India received a major boost on June 27 when Nokia India Pvt. Ltd., the Indian arm of the Finnish mobile handset maker, announced it would offer its Mobile Money service on all Nokia devices.

S1 Corp. and Fundtech Ltd. have not competed directly, but they sold to many of the same customers. As such, their announced merger would substantially boost the power of each company’s sales team as they pursue new markets and deepen existing customer relationships.

Another company has announced a mobile payments and marketing app in what some are calling the Wild West of mobile payments.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is making it easier for holders of its cobranded Amazon Visa credit card to redeem rewards points for purchases.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile phones and creating a new product for ISOs to sell to merchants.

Two payment transaction software and service providers, S1 and Fundtech, have agreed to a "merger of equals" today in a deal valued at $700 million. Upon closing of the transaction, S1 shareholders will own approximately 55 percent and Fundtech shareholders approximately 45 percent of the combined company. The combined company will be headquartered at S1's headquarters in Atlanta and will be called Fundtech.