Retailers

The general public is largely uninformed about what EMV is, why it is coming into the US and the benefits of adopting more secure payment technology.

Though it seems as if the Merchant Customer Exchange has been stuck in the same mud the past year — still testing its CurrentC mobile wallet with no true launch date set — much has happened to support those who believe the retailer joint venture could still land squarely on its feet.

Wirecard Group and Alipay are collaborating to provide European retailers with barcode technology enabling Chinese tourists to make point of sale payments using the Alipay mobile wallet app.

American Express has joined LendingTree’s credit card marketplace.

Versatile, high-tech digital gift card sales are going strong for this year’s holiday season, but in the latest sign that plastic cards many never die, eBay has partnered with gift card giant InComm to sell traditional gift cards online that will take up to 10 days to arrive by mail.

Dealing with late and missed payments from creditors is a chronic complaint of small businesses, who are often stretched too thin to chase down money owed to them. But a U.K.-based startup aims to attack that problem with YayPay, an automated invoicing platform with a bill-collections feature that launched this week in the U.S.

Exciting growth opportunities exist for small and medium businesses taking advantage of the ever-increasing holiday shopping season. However, amidst this positive backdrop, lurks the negative threat posed by hackers and cyber criminals that prey on holiday shoppers and businesses.

U.S. transactions processor Global Payments Inc. is in talks to buy smaller rival Heartland Payment Systems Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Even though Walmart has been a key member and driving force behind the Merchant Customer Exchange joint venture to establish a new mobile wallet, the retailer's addition of Walmart Pay to its mobile app is consistent with strategy, and will lead to a wave of individual bank and retailer initiatives.

Boku had to stay mum last week about its involvement in powering Apple Inc.'s carrier billing option in Russia, but there is no such gag order this week regarding the company's partnership with Microsoft.

One of the leaders of the retailer-driven Merchant Customer Exchange mobile payment system, Walmart is stepping out with its own alternative to Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay.

A typical word cloud from the payment community might be heavily weighted like this - Loop, Apple, bitcoin, e-gifts, Near Field Communication, contactless, mobile wallets, tokenization, and digital encryption.

JPMorgan Chase has shuffled three top executives in credit cards, mortgages and mortgage servicing.

Visa Inc. has started marketing what’s poised to be one of the biggest bond offerings of the year to finance its 21.2 billion euro ($23.3 billion) takeover of Visa Europe Ltd.

The holy grail for any business is sustainable competitive advantage. In the fast-moving payments market, where we are seeing the challenge of near-constant technology-led change, this can appear both elusive and far-fetched.

ACI Worldwide will provide the payments framework to allow international money transfer provider TransferWise to add more services to its network.

American Express’ small merchant card acceptance has been generally low, though that performance could improve through a partnership with Moneris, Canada’s largest acquirer.

SunTrust Banks Inc. introduced enhanced rewards and bonuses with three new credit cards for customers about seven weeks after the October EMV liability shift, gaining some headwind with the added security of chip cards and an offer of free FICO score reporting.

A recent column by Penny Crosman on whether cards with newer chip technology should be paired with a signature or PIN, for added security, came down squarely on the side of using PINs. But the article overlooked a key fact in the debate: neither is the most important defense against fraud. It’s the chip that matters.

As wearable computing transitions from fantasy to fashion, developers are starting to consider the distinct risks that arise when payments migrate away from smartphones.