Payments

The Olympics and other attractions are not just proving grounds for athletes — stadiums, amusement parks and concert halls provide the perfect conditions to test new payment technologies.

With payments players studying closely every move Apple Inc. makes, reports out July 27 that the computer giant will buy biometrics developer AuthenTec Inc. sparked speculation about the potential payments capabilities of the iPhone 5.

NEW YORK – A second plaintiffs group, the National Grocers Association, weighed in against the Visa and MasterCard antitrust settlement on Thursday, increasing the odds against a federal judge eventually approving the historic deal.

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Visa Europe Ltd. may receive an antitrust complaint from European Union regulators over credit card fees, the EU’s competition commissioner said.

DANVILLE, Ill. – Landmark CU has rolled out Easy Saver, an account that allows members to round up debit transactions to the nearest dollar and add the difference to their savings account.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay $100 million to settle credit-card holder claims that the bank increased their required minimum payments after promising a fixed interest rate.

Higher cardmember spending and a rise in net interest income, driven primarily by the growth in card loans, helped boost second quarter revenues for the U.S. Card Services unit at American Express Co., the card brand announced July 18.

Xceed Financial FCU has asked a federal court to compel a member suing it over its overdraft practices to submit to mandatory arbitration instead, as required under its standard membership agreement.

WASHINGTON-Costs for the historic settlement of antitrust charges against Visa, MasterCard and several big banks will ultimately be passed on to owners and beneficiaries of the two card networks, with hundreds of millions of dollars of the $7.2-billion settlement being paid by credit unions.

DES MOINES, Iowa-In response to the settlement in the "swipe fees" case, TMG Financial Services and The Members Group issued a statement saying it expects all credit unions to be "impacted by this decision."

WASHINGTON-At least one influential group of merchants, the National Association of Convenience Stores, which has been battling Visa and MasterCard over card fees for years, has weighed in against the antitrust settlement on credit card fees and is threatening to block the historic deal.

Many high-tech approaches to payments are short-lived. A lucky few get a second chance to disrupt the market.

Developing a mobile wallet for consumers is one thing. Getting those consumers interested and educated about how the wallet works and why they should use phones for payments is an entirely different matter.

The days of the add-on mobile card reader may be numbered, as recent developments around software-based approaches gain strong momentum.

Google's decision to add Google Wallet to its new Nexus 7 tablet could break the limitations its mobile payment system has faced in reaching consumers. 

PayPal's decision to buy its mobile-pay tech partner Card.io sheds light on how the smaller company's technology is shaping the world of mobile payments.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued its first enforcement action Wednesday, ordering Capital One Bank N.A. to pay $165 million for what the agency described as deceptive marketing tactics related to various credit card products.

M-Via, which offers a mobile checking account called Boom, said July 18 that it closed a $17 million financing round led by Digicel Group Ltd. M-Via is also changing its name to Boom Financial.

Shopkick's mobile rewards system has relied so far on small devices retailers install at their doors to signal to an app that a customer has visited in person. But for a giant like Macy's, those little devices can add up to a big headache.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. reported delinquencies and chargeoffs fell in June from a year earlier for the private-label cards it manages.