POS and Retail

Merrick Bank Corp. has signed on to offer Secure Vault Payments to merchants through its ISO network, and sources say the fledgling payment method may become available to 17 million consumers before the end of this month and to 50 million by year’s end.

American Express Co. is working with Boston-based LevelUp on a pilot with Levi Strauss & Co. Levi’s stores in three major U.S. cities during which cardholders may receive statement credits by using a smartphone application that supports discounts for shopping at the clothing retailer.

Stronger demand for its payment terminals in certain emerging markets helped Hypercom Corp. produce higher-than-expected first-quarter revenues, according to analysts, as the company draws closer to its planned acquisition later this year by VeriFone Systems Inc.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is planning to amend its proposal to cap debit fees at a higher rate, setting a compromise in the heated controversy between merchants and banks and credit unions while at the same time threatening efforts by banks and credit unions to delay implementation of the rule.

While restaurants experienced a slight increase, small and mid-sized brick-and-mortar merchants experienced a 3.09% decline in overall credit and signature-debit card sales during the first quarter ended March 31. This marked the 14th consecutive quarterly decline, new research suggests.

VeriFone Systems Inc., the nation's largest maker of point of sale terminals, is introducing a new one that could make it as easy for merchants to accept alternative payments as it is to take Visa or MasterCard.

PayNearMe Inc. has launched a bill-payment function for its cash payment system that works with bar codes printed on billers’ statements.

Socialwise Inc. is furthering its promotion of its BillMyParents alternative payment system through its partnership with skateboarding star Rob Dyrdek.

Hypercom Corp. reported Monday that it swung to a loss of nearly $3.5 million during the first quarter from a profit of $375,000 a year earlier.

PayPal Inc. could lose a substantial amount of transaction revenue if pending caps on debit interchange are applied to the alternative payments company, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets said in a research note Thursday.

As U.S. Bancorp upgrades its mobile banking offerings, it is also stepping up its use of mobile data business intelligence to target sales and personalize customer service.

Financial institutions likely soon will face significant reductions in debit card interchange revenue, but that is not stopping a San Diego-based issuer from launching a program in which customers will receive cash back on purchases initiated with its Visa check cards.

Despite a United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading investigation looking into the debit and credit card fees the country’s airlines charge, easyJet Airline Co. Ltd. continues to increase its debit card fees for flight bookings, PaymentsSource has learned.

Visa Inc. plans revisit its incentive agreements with issuing banks after the Federal Reserve Board finalizes its capped rate for debit card interchange this summer, executives for the card brand told analysts May 5 during a conference call to discuss fiscal second-quarter earnings.

U.S. merchants now may process magnetic stripe, e-commerce and EMV chip-and-PIN payments using Yespay International Ltd.’s cross-border payment service, the London-based company announced on May 4.

A new payment card allows users to see their balances right away with the technology they already have — no chips, fancy apps or even bookmarked mobile websites required.

Michaels Stores Inc. on May 5 began alerting customers that PIN pads at its Chicago-area stores may have been tampered with and that debit and credit card information possibly was compromised.

Hoping to replicate in Latin America the success of a payment card-based loyalty program similar to Canada’s Air Miles, Alliance Data Systems Corp. on May 5 said that its LoyaltyOne unit will play a key role in Banco do Brasil’s recently announced national rollout of Dotz, a broad payment card-based loyalty program.

Mobile users in India now have the ability to purchase tickets to the cricket Indian Premier League and movie theaters using Suvidha Starnet Pvt Ltd’s mobile-payment service.

CHICAGO–A day after the Wall Street Journal reported Isis was changing its business model by working with other established payments organizations, an executive for the organization told a panel here at the Smart Card Alliance’s annual conference nothing had changed.