Retailers

Intuit's decision to shed its digital banking division demonstrates the technology developer's position that banks aren’t the only way to marry merchant services with consumer mobile payments.

The Chicago Transit Authority is planning an August launch for its new fare system that will allow retail and fare payments from the same card.The open standards fare system is called Ventra and was developed through a partnership between Cubic Transportation Systems, MasterCard and First Data. With it, Chicago transit riders can pay for fares on the city's elevated trains (called the "L"), buses and subway that are all operated by the CTA, as well as suburban bus line fares for routes operated by a separate transit authority called Pace.

Payment Alliance International sees an opportunity in the recent fallout of processors, banks, lenders and merchant services vendors that won't work with the firearms industry, and developed a program to provide its processing services to legitimate gun dealers.

Braintree, a six-year-old payment processor, says it now handles $10 billion in annual transactions. The milestone comes as the company is steadily growing its international customer base, most recently with the addition of Mojang, the Sweden-based maker of games like Minecraft and Scrolls.

The FTC's move to hold payment processors responsible for the deeds of unscrupulous merchants could result in higher prices or fewer choices for small businesses and consumers.

The "nuclear football" allows the president to order a nuclear missile attack from any location, and ZenithSecure took its idea for a new data security vault straight from the playbook for protecting those launch codes.

Members of the EMV Migration Forum are recommending a single common debit code for EMV transactions in the U.S. and plan to provide details later this summer for how the payments industry can implement it.

Intuit Inc. said Monday it has agreed to sell its online and mobile banking division in a $1 billion deal that doesn't include its payments technology for merchants.

Total System Services closed its $1.4 billion acquisition of NetSpend on July 1, in line with its previously disclosed schedule for closing.

Card processor and merchant acquirer Clearent is working with Reward4Schools to help the Missouri-based community rewards provider reach a national audience.

Square Inc. has ended its gift card service, according to a report from Reuters, about half a year after launching the program.

Birch Coffee has used Square's mobile card reader for its delivery service for about two years, and was one of the first to switch to the new Square Market e-commerce site ahead its launch.

CCBill has developed a portal to help merchants analyze data produced by payments to spot purchasing patterns and other trends that can tie past transactions to future business strategy.

It's been an eventful year so far in the payments industry. Exciting new technologies, dramatic executive turnover and ongoing courtroom drama have defined 2013's first six months.

Square Inc. has hired Gokul Rajaram to head software development for the Square Register app as the company's Product Engineering Lead.

Merchants are expressing concern about the U.S. transition to EMV-chip payment cards because of what they view as technical challenges and industry politics.

Tablet point of sale technology provider Revel Systems has raised $10.1 million in expansion capital that it will use to increase staff as well as open new offices in Asia and Europe.

Small business online service provider Web.com has incorporated MasterCard's digital wallet, MasterPass, into its offerings, enabling MasterCard to dramatically and quickly expand MasterPass' merchant base.

Square Inc. now allows its merchants to establish an online store through the Square Register app.

Choosing the right technology vendors can differentiate independent sales organizations and provide a competitive advantage.