Retailers

A California-based start-up that enables children to manage and spend funds within a parent-controlled environment has updated its system to support monthly subscriptions to games, music and other digital media.

Consumers are increasingly using payment cards at vending machines, and the owners of the devices are reaping the benefits through higher ticket sales and increased transaction volume.

Square has shut out independent sales organizations as distributors of its mobile card reader. Now one ISO has gone on the offensive by offering its own.

Turning a phone into a credit card reader is no longer anything special. Square, facing increasing competition from bigger rivals, is adding features to its small plastic card reader to make it a more fleshed-out product for merchants.

A Denver-based start-up that began by offering Facebook credits as rewards is adding a proprietary prepaid card to create another redemption option and to help expand the program's marketing potential.

Somehow, the developers of O2's mobile wallet found a small village in Wales that did not have even one cash machine available for its 11,000 residents. O2 gave the village a "money makeover."

For international travelers, a new pact between a Citigroup Hong Kong unit and Planet Payment Inc. should take the mystery out of currency exchange rates on a purchase-by-purchase basis.

Consider it the beginning of the Next Generation for Card Express Inc. — literally. Launched in 1995 by Alan Safahi as a prepaid card provider supporting corporate cards, CardEx soon plans to venture into the consumer market. And Safahi's son, Sean, will lead the initiative as the firm's new CEO.

It may soon get a lot easier to take payment systems designed for the information superhighway and use them on real-world streets, according to a Canadian company that specializes in parking transactions.

If consumers embrace a system in which they pay for coffee at Starbucks with their smartphones, will they do the same for Whoppers at Burger King?

One of the first women to succeed in the acquiring business advises her female colleagues not to hold a grudge, even after industry debates become heated.

Standalone contactless payment cards may be headed for extinction in the U.S. The tap-and-pay card technology that began to emerge in the U.S. in 2005 never caught fire, as relatively few merchants adapted their payment terminals to accommodate it.

It may not jolt faster acceptance of Near Field Communication-based payments at the point of sale, but the introduction of other NFC capabilities should at least increase merchant and consumer interest in the technology.

VeriFone Systems Inc. has launched card-payment software in the United Kingdom and Ireland that supports the processing and management of in-store, online and mobile retail transactions, the terminal maker announced June 13.

The Chicago area’s transit authorities are a step closer to a cross-platform open-payment system that will enable riders to use open-loop contactless cards to access buses and trains.

This story has been updated from its original version with additional information.

Ingenico SA plans to install its newest contactless payment terminals in the 3,000 point-of-sale locations in the SNCF, or National Corporation of French Railways, the Paris-based terminal maker announced June 13.

The Home Depot Inc., one of the banking industry's fiercest opponents in the battles over interchange regulations, says its customers have benefitted from lower prices after regulators capped debit card swipe fees last fall.

Merchants seeking a simple means to support multiple payment options such as EMV chip cards and Near Field Communication and the ability to choose ancillary services such as loyalty programs from any vendor might consider adopting a Genius for support.

As the payments industry contemplates the changes affecting point-of-sale systems, two Utah-based companies are providing what they consider a peek into the future with a cloud-managed tablet system.