Retailers

As the spread of mobile technology continues to erase borders, more companies are teaming up to bring their offerings to audiences they would have been unable to serve just 10 years ago. Many of these companies already had global reach, but needed the technology or local expertise of a partner from overseas.

As devices become smarter, we need to establish how we can help people pay for things via any number of devices in a safe, secure way whether at home, on the move or in-store, while minimizing any risks, but maintaining an excellent user experience.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been pushing ahead with EMV card adoption and the Merchant Customer Exchange mobile wallet, but gave little to no attention to them during its Feb. 18 conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

Only 37% of U.S. merchant locations are fully equipped for EMV card acceptance, narrowly missing a projected 40% rate of deployment predicted by management consulting firm Strawhecker Group, according to research it published Wednesday.

Matt Taylor, formerly the CEO of Mercury and now group president of integrated payments and emerging channels at Vantiv, shared insights into how his company made the right decisions at the right time.

M-commerce and payments are a tsunami that no retailer can ignore, but engaging consumers on mobile, and more importantly, converting consumers, remains a challenge for retailers of all sizes.

Football season may be over, but the game is just getting started for the payment companies that saw the Super Bowl as their own proving ground.

The world of global payments is evolving rapidly – driven by an increasingly global economy, expanding consumer buying power in Asia and South America, rising adoption of digital payment methods, and increasing concerns over security and transparency.

The Electronic Transactions Association released its updated Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring last week, spotlighting various merchant categories that face the biggest scrutiny from law enforcement agencies.

In comparison to the countries that have already implemented faster payments, the U.S. market contains a far larger and more diverse array of financial institutions that would have to implement the system in order for ubiquity to be achieved.

Visa has accumulated a 9.99% stake in Square, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, giving a boost to the mobile point of sale company, which has faced challenges recently.

Much of the growth in wearable technology is happening without an eye to enabling payments. This is prompting many companies to find a way to add payment capabilities to wearables without forcing users to buy an entirely new device.

By now, many merchants should be wondering if they made the right decision by failing to act before last fall’s EMV liability shift.

Visa and MasterCard have a huge share of the European card markets, but that popularity is attracting increasingly sophisticated online criminals and nimble competitors.

The app ecosystem has enabled payments to blend almost invisibly into the background of many cash-based services, such as ride-sharing and food delivery, but sometimes there is a need to let payments take center stage.

U.S. Bancorp has hired John Steward as president of its retail payments solutions division.

Electronic payment automation delivers significant time and cost savings and can actually turn accounts payable into a profit center through card rebates.

Most consumers, when dining, still enjoy the simplicity of dropping cash on the table than using something newer, like an EMV card or a mobile wallet, even when those payment forms are becoming more commonplace in other stores.

Since payment fraud involves many different types of activity the best way to identify suspicious patterns is to integrate disparate data sources, and cross check data from multiple angles.

Heartland Payment Systems is quickly accumulating technology to serve smaller merchants and restaurants, two key pieces of the services that made the processor attractive to Global Payments, which is in the midst of acquiring Heartland.