Retailers

Cartera Commerce Inc. has integrated Groupon Inc.’s daily deals into its merchant network to enable consumers to earn rewards by purchasing a Groupon deal, Cartera Commerce reported earlier this month.

Hypercom Corp.’s shareholders have approved the $485 million merger with VeriFone Systems Inc., Hypercom announced Feb. 24.

Arcos Dorados, which manages McDonald’s restaurants in Latin America, plans to use payment software from VeriFone Systems Inc., the companies announced Feb. 28.

Citizens of Thiruvananthapuram in the Indian state of Kerala may pay their property taxes online under an initiative launched Feb. 22

For nearly every sales force in nearly every industry, selling based on price can be a losing game; someone is always willing to sell for less.

The company behind the eBillme online-payment system has announced a partnership with Discover Financial Services that furthers the alternative payments provider’s strategy of aligning itself with mainstream players.

The Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit-interchange rates are unlikely to go into effect this summer without some significant changes, the co-chief of a large ISO speculates.

The Central Bank of Kenya has established new regulations for the country’s mobile funds-transfer market designed to protect consumers and mitigate market risk, a spokesperson for the bank tells PaymentsSource.

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s pending acquisition of rival terminal maker Hypercom Corp. moved a step closer Feb. 24 as Hypercom announced its shareholders had approved the companies’ merger agreement.

In 2012, London will become the first city where domestic and international consumers may access an entire transportation network using open-loop, network-branded contactless credit or debit cards, the Transport for London announced Feb. 24.

News that another credit union is adopting EMV payment card technology to reduce cardholder hassles when traveling abroad adds ballast to the theory that some U.S. payment sectors won’t wait for a mandate to voluntarily embrace the chip-and-PIN method.

The Electronic Transactions Association’s payments professional certification program will debut by the end of the year, the trade group announced Feb. 22.

Long satisfied with offering merchants a purpose-built wireless point-of-sale terminal, Matt Freedman, chief operating officer at Total Merchant Services Inc., realized last year his ISO needed to offer more to meet the needs of a broader mobile-merchant audience.

In a move some observers say might represent the future of loyalty and mobile payments, loyalty marketer Maritz Real-Time and smart card technology firm Vivotech Inc. have formed a strategic partnership to provide immediate retail promotions to customer mobile phones equipped with Near Field Communication technology.

Consumers in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada soon may use their smartphone as a contactless payment device and mobile wallet using an application from Yespay International Ltd.

Square Inc.’s Feb. 22 announcement that it had dropped the 15-cent transaction fee for card-present transactions represents a return to a rate scheme the merchant-services company had last spring.

The anticipated Federal Reserve Board cap on debit card interchange may send some payments startups, which pitched their services as low-cost alternatives, back to the drawing board.

Axis Bank Ltd. has launched a Visa-branded prepaid card in India designed for foreign tourists visiting the country, the issuer announced Feb. 21.

The Electronic Transactions Association’s payments professional certification program will debut by the end of the year, the trade group announced Feb. 22.

Though perhaps there is no greater rivalry than Thin Mints versus Samoas, two Girl Scout groups are taking sides in a different debate: which mobile card reader is best for cookie sales.