Retailers

Attendance reached a record-breaking 874 at the Western States Acquirers Association 2012 Conference last week in Huntington Beach, Calif., up from the previous record of 722 set last year in Burlingame, Calif.

Capital Access Network Inc. is expanding its annual funding capacity to $1 billion.

Acquirers stared into the face of the “enemy” here Thursday, and he didn’t really seem that scary.

The days are just about gone when independent sales organizations and sales agents can sign up merchants for transaction services simply by offering a price a few basis points lower than the completion.

Don’t seek immediate gain when networking with colleagues, an executive advised here Wednesday at the Western States Acquirers 2012 Conference.

Salespeople usually can’t do anything about it when a processor or independent sales organization cancels the residuals earned from signing up merchants for transaction processing.

The telecommunications companies behind the Isis mobile wallet joint venture have had Salt Lake City in their sights as a testing ground for the past year. But recent delays in the Isis rollout have opened the door for direct competitor Google Wallet to continue to gain as much momentum as possible with its mobile pay system.

A provision within the hotly contested settlement between merchants and credit card networks could potentially slow PayPal’s bid to become more widely accepted at grocery stores, restaurants and other retailers.

New players are disrupting the established order and taking market share from independent sales organizations. This rapid pace of change in payments may drive many ISOs out of business, speakers said at an industry event.

Spire Payments will partner with technology investor Newland Computers in developing future products and rolling out a new line of point-of-sale terminals.

SecureNet Payment Systems has opened a technology and innovation center in Austin, Texas, and revealed plans for a client operations center in Silicon Valley, Calif., later this year.

A study guide has just been released as a companion to a recent hardcover book aimed at the acquiring industry.

As the new iPhone 5 gets into consumers’ hands, so too does Apple’s new limited mobile wallet app, Passbook, a single platform for storing movie tickets, boarding passes, gift cards and retail coupons.

A new partnership will bring merchant supplier General Credit Forms’ products to the online marketplace of payments technology provider My Clear Reports.

Capital Access Network’s subsidiary Newlogic Business Loans Inc. is now granting loans to merchants through independent sales organizations in all 50 states.

Independent Sales Organizations stand to make more money if they provide some of the funding for merchant cash advances, and at least a few are borrowing to do it.

Groupon's new payments system is a small step toward a dramatic change in merchant acquiring, one that leaves ownership of consumer data up for grabs.

These days it seems like everyone is a payments company, whether their primary business is selling coffee or coupons. Wherever they come from, they're challenging the very structure of this industry.

A new cloud-based merchant loyalty scheme has earned the backing of a major payments processor and some large retailing chains.

Marqeta has launched a consumer rewards prepaid card in hopes of capturing the success of Starbucks' loyalty program and spreading that wealth to other merchants.