POS and Retail

CHICAGO–The mobile-commerce market is littered with various wallet models, acceptance devices and applications, and this is forcing merchant-service providers to seek out ways to bring the elements together to help retailers maximize the channel’s potential, notes one mobile-payments executive.

All South Korean point-of-sale terminals now accept China UnionPay cards through a deal with South Korea’s BC Card Co., the companies announced Oct. 21.

ZAO Citibank has launched a free service that enables Moscow residents to pay their city real-estate, telephone and energy bills automatically by billing to their Citibank debit or credit card accounts, the Moscow-based company announced Oct. 17.

Accepting card payments with a mobile phone is becoming as American as baseball and apple pie now that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is selling the Square Inc. reader that turns any smartphone into a card-acceptance device.

Travelex Global Business Payments Inc. is using new software to offer an online payment program designed to save U.S. universities time and money by eliminating manual tracking when various exchange fees cause an international student’s payments to be less than what is owed, the Washington, D.C.-based company announced Oct. 13.

Google Wallet is riding on an active trend to connect retailer loyalty programs to mobile-payment systems.

When merchants fail to qualify for a cash advance because of bankruptcies, liens, foreclosures, credit scores below 550 or undesirable Standard Industrial Classification codes, independent sales organizations can turn to a handful of companies that specialize in the “decline” market.

Before undergoing major technical tasks related to preparing point-of-sale terminals for the Single Euro Payment Area, French terminal maker Ingenico SA says it will have a key voice in establishing security and payment scheme standards for the single European market.

Citing strong cardholder spending increases across the board, American Express Co. on Oct. 19 said its U.S. Card Services unit produced income of $733 million during the quarter ended Sept. 30, up 23.2% from $595 million a year earlier.

U.S. Bancorp on Oct. 19 reported positive third-quarter earnings driven by increases in fee-based revenue, including higher payments-related income.

Google Inc. is entering the transit space through a partnership with the New Jersey Transit Agency, which will enable Google Wallet users to purchase tickets at select vending machines and ticket windows and pay fares on seven bus routes.

The acquiring industry is outsourcing some of the work involved with a new requirement to report merchants’ transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, a task some have characterized as worse than a bad dream.

Banks involved in the creation of a Single Euro Payment Area in Europe must view it as an opportunity to rebuild a payments system from scratch instead of as an overly complex challenge in which applying new standards to an old system will suffice, a new report by Boston-based research firm Celent asserts.

Nearly 350 members of the merchant-acquiring industry have applied to take the first test for the new Certified Payments Professional credential developed and administered by the Electronic Transactions Association.

Marketing analysts who say mobile access is the future of loyalty programs with retailers and restaurants are closely watching to see how consumers respond to new mobile apps linking card purchases to rewards credits.

Merchants who use credit card terminals that do not accept PIN transactions or incorporate mobile card readers at their businesses can have those devices tested for the use of advanced encryption for data protection, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council announced Oct. 14.

Prepaid marketer NetSpend Holdings Inc., which recently lost some crucial distribution partners, has rebounded with a new deal inked with 7-Eleven Inc.

Two Shanghai city business-development organizations are attempting to further push online shopping during the Chinese festival season in collaboration with third party online payment provider International Payments Solutions (Shanghai) Ltd.

CHICAGO—Consumers will decide which mobile wallets they want to use and that is why financial institutions should participate in as many as possible, a Citigroup Inc. executive on Oct. 12 told attendees here at the BAI Retail Delivery conference.

With e-commerce becoming a bigger target for payment data theft, Global Payments Inc. intends to provide its online merchants with another set of fraud-detection tools.