Payments

WASHINGTON -- Judges for an appeals court appeared sympathetic Friday to the Federal Reserve Board's defense of its rule capping interchange fees on debit cards, fueling hopes by credit unions and banks that the agency will beat back a legal challenge.

As with any new technology, mobile wallets must earn the trust of the consumers and merchants who would use them. Many mobile payment apps may attempt to beef up security with password and PIN protection, but a few have had their security scrutinized very publicly.

It's not the first time Apple has sought a patent for payments technology on its iPhones, but an application published Jan. 16 is perhaps the most specific.

Starbucks has released an update to its mobile app that's designed to enhance security following reports of vulnerabilities related to how its app stores passwords.

Ingenico's Roam has added staff management functions to its mobile point of sale technology as the company pursues a broader range of businesses.

U.S. banks and merchants face mounting pressure to catch up with technology used in Europe, Asia and Latin America to secure credit- and debit-card data after tens of millions of Target Corp. customers were exposed.

Starbucks is reportedly storing mobile app users' passwords in a manner that makes them accessible to a hacker with access to a user's phone, creating potential security risks that could erode consumer confidence in mobile payments.

Retailers are being inventive in their use of prepaid cards and mobile wallets to improve their store loyalty programs. Many are learning to use payments technology in ways that may change the way banks view their partnerships with merchants.

E-commerce technology provider Wirecard has integrated Bluetooth Low Energy into its mobile wallet for wireless payments.

Mobile payments company WePay has raised $15 million in new funding, led long-time payments and bank executive Phil Purcell's Continental Investors, as it places more emphasis on working with third-party developers.

Receipts, typically a scrap of paper many shoppers throw away, can be easily reimagined as a tool to improve customer engagement, says Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square.

The latest quarterly survey of U.S. and Canadian bank risk professionals found expectations for delinquencies on auto loans hit their highest level since Q4 2012, and expectations for delinquencies on credit cards reached their highest level in two years.

Retail mobile wallet strategies are evolving as merchants' views of the opportunity that mobile presents matures beyond payment acceptance and technical considerations.

High end fashion retailer Guess is working with MicroStrategy Inc., which has been in data analytics for more than 20 years, to use MicroStrategy's Alert app to track and reward users.

The biggest takeaway from a roundtable discussion PayPal hosted at its New York offices this week: Size matters.

Microsoft has made a series of recent partnerships with payments companies such as AnywhereCommerce, Vantiv and FreedomPay.

AT&T and Vantiv have partnered to offer mobile card readers and in-store payment technology.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it replaced 2 million payment cards after the breach of consumer data at retailers including Target Corp.

Square Inc., the payments startup co-founded by Twitter Inc. Chairman Jack Dorsey, has authorized a tender offer of 1 million shares at $135.28 each, valuing the closely held company at $5 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

For the first merchants to adopt the Isis mobile wallet, the loyalty and data opportunities that it presents are of far greater value than the contactless payment capabilities it provides.