Retailers

A transit open-loop fare collection pilot in New Jersey that uses a Visa-branded prepaid debit card could help change the traditional notions about how to distribute a general-purpose reloadable product to financially underserved consumers, notes an industry observer.

Isis announced on Sept. 27 that several companies will launch mobile devices that implement its NFC and technology standards.

Each merchant seeking to comply with Payment Card Industry data-security standards faces specific challenges based on its business processes, but this year a few common themes are emerging globally, Jeremy King, European director of the PCI Security Standards Council, tells PaymentsSource.

CHICAGO—Last week, the PCI Security Standards Council pushed advanced encryption as a way to protect consumers’ card data. But one point-of-sale vendor executive contends authentication at every step of the payments process would work better to combat fraud.

Customer credit card data was not endangered during last week’s security breach of a small portion of websites hosted by GoDaddy.com Inc., a company executive says.

Responding to merchant complaints that their payment network would not allow them to switch to a less-expensive processor, gateway provider FeeFighters announced Sept. 21 plans to launch an online-payment service that simplifies the ability to make such changes.

SAN FRANCISCO–Independent sales organizations and agents no longer have to turn down business from merchants that also want point-of-sale systems with card-acceptance services, a presenter here at the Western States Acquirers Association Eighth Annual Conference told attendees Sept. 21.

SAN FRANCISCO–To turn online social media into business tools, independent sales organizations should give their communications a personal spin on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, according to panelists speaking here Sept. 22 at the Eighth Annual Western States Acquirers Association Conference.

A London-based payment-processing and fraud-prevention company says it has created a way to detect fraudulent online credit card use more quickly by providing merchants and card issuers with identical cardholder data and transaction histories.

SAN FRANCISCO–Owning a merchant-services independent sales organization can bring financial and personal independence. But starting one up requires hard work, long hours and a significant amount of cash.

Discover Financial Services more than doubled its third-quarter net income to $649 million as its customers increased their spending and its credit card loan portfolio grew for the first time in over two years.

As part of a campaign to protect retailers and restaurant operators from robbers, an independent sales organization is offering a voucher for an AK-47 assault rifle to merchants that sign up for its payment services.

Google Inc. has reached agreements with Visa Inc., American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services with the goal of eventually enabling other financial institutions to add their Near Field Communication-enabled payment card products to Google Wallet, the company announced Sept. 19.

If a merchant plans to use advanced data encryption as a credit card data security measure, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council now has some guidelines for how best to go about it.

Fraudsters are increasingly using alternative payment methods to make bogus transactions, in many cases moving away from debit cards and checks, merchants report.

Building on its growing momentum in contactless payments, Bank of Montreal is rolling out the Mobile PayPass Tag, a Near Field Communication-enabled sticker that consumers can attach to their mobile phones to make contactless payments in Canada, the bank announced Sept. 13.

The online payment provider eLayaway Inc. said on Monday that it would join the Secure Vault Payments network and offer the service to its customers in the fourth quarter.

Terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. has taken a key step toward bringing its recently acquired Hypercom Corp. hardware operations abroad under one roof by making its product information available to Hypercom distributors in Western Europe, the company said Sept. 12.

With membership expanding from 11 companies to 16 companies in the last 60 days, the North American Merchant Cash Advance Association is becoming the voice of the emerging industry, its leader says.

Fifth Third Bancorp is leveraging its existing relationships with colleges and universities to enter the campus card program market.