Retailers

Bots have slowly begun to creep onto the online payments scene, and they could offer a whole new, simpler way to part with our cash.

Whether it is EMV, NFC, HCE or TSP, there is certainly no shortage of acronyms within the payments ecosystem. And this is one trend that is here to stay.

The payments and financial technology world is moving ahead at high speed. But an acquirer may feel like the only one on the road obeying the speed limit while other companies zoom ahead.

In the first half of 2016, the payments industry had its most active six months of merger-and-acquisition activity since the second half of 2014.

First Data Corp., the payments processor that went public last year, climbed after posting second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates.

European Union regulators recently passed new rules for shielding data from cyber criminals. Every company that operates in or does business with EU citizens must comply, which is virtually every mid-to-large sized company in the world.

Many times, bitter rivals must set aside their differences for the common good. This has happened a lot in recent years as the payments industry adjusts to the fast pace of innovation.

The regulatory winds swirling around acquirers and independent sales organizations are so swift, those who can't stay abreast of the changes are likely to get blown away.

In the last decade, customer loyalty has extended beyond the bank to include an array of non-bank solutions for financial management, payment and lending.

Payment Data Systems (PDS), a San Antonio, Texas-based payment solutions provider, has introduced a streamlined approach for mobile app developers to enable payment acceptance from all Apple Inc. mobile devices.

Square will enable sellers to make daily bank deposits, adding another in a series of merchant-focused perks designed to diversify revenue streams and sweeten the company's appeal to businesses.

Every product has a "sell by" date, and so should every independent sales organization.

Every product has a "sell by" date, and so should every independent sales organization.

The Beltway debate between the retail and financial sectors over the electronic payment system has flared up again. While retailers are lobbying Congress to extend government price controls to credit card interchange rates, separate bills would repeal Durbin Amendment ceilings on debit card interchange and strengthen merchant security standards.

TSYS is beginning to integrate its $2.4 billion acquisition of TransFirst, an initiative the Columbus, Ga.-based processor hopes will substantially extend its ability to serve merchants in the high-pressure arena of multichannel commerce.

The marriage of in-store shopping, online ordering and mobile commerce is happening just as fast for retailers as it is for consumers.

Pokémon Go has taken the US by storm, to put it mildly. For an app that was released very recently, it already has more users than Twitter and is beating Facebook on daily engagement.

When it comes to filling up at the gas pump and making other everyday purchases, consumers are forgoing cash and using credit cards and debit cards. Retailers are upgrading their systems to keep up with changing payment trends, which is driving demand for payment service providers.

In many emerging markets, daily financial transactions—buying groceries, paying a utility bill, cashing a paycheck or billing a customer—are notoriously difficult. Banking institutions are few and far between, and large swaths of the population have little or no access to them.

A year from now, Sionic Mobile will have distributed 100,000 free iBeacons to small businesses, a $1 million marketing play the company hopes secures its place among local stores as they start to adopt mobile technologies.