Retailers

After months of fretting, ISOs, agents and processors are viewing the upcoming cap on debit card interchange fees as a golden opportunity to increase margins, boost revenue and gain market share.

Bank of Ireland is rolling out what it claims is the first contactless Visa debit card from an Irish bank.

In a move aimed at significantly expanding its card-brands’ acceptance in Europe, Discover Financial Services has forged a processing and merchant-acquiring agreement with First Data Corp. for international operations, a Discover executive tells PaymentsSource.

As a growing number of United Kingdom-based merchants adopt contactless payment technology as part of a broad regional effort leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games, specific retailers are seeing the technology’s benefits.

A new social-networking site not only offers independent sales organizations and agents an array of opportunities to boost revenue and earnings but also controls a pool of cash available to the industry as loans, backers claim.

Western Union Co. has struck a deal that will make it a competitor, but also a potential partner, for banks trying to capture a bigger chunk of the business payments market.

Online and mobile-payment startup Dwolla Corp. has been building a payment network called Grid that company executives believe to be more secure than MasterCard Worldwide’s and Visa Inc.’s card networks.

In its first major play to connect its mobile-payments service with social media, Starbucks Coffee Co. on June 30 unveiled a mobile-payment application it developed in-house that consolidates the features of previous apps with links to enable users to send Starbucks gift cards via Facebook.

States’ efforts to rein in fly-by-night companies are starting to have an effect on some payments startups’ operations.

The marketplace is beginning to take shape for mobile card readers with the June 29 disclosure that VeriFone Systems Inc. plans to introduce a card-reading accessory for tablet computers this year.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday suggested raising the debit interchange fee cap to 21 cents per transaction, but it gave banks a little bit of leeway to charge even more if they meet certain fraud prevention standards.

VeriFone Systems Inc. continues to gain momentum in the contactless-terminal market for taxis is the Asia-Pacific region, signing a contract to supply 15,600 contactless payment terminals to the largest taxi fleet in Singapore.

Yet another mobile-commerce venture is being formed, and this one could have some staying power, according to an analyst familiar with the deal.

Mobile-payments startup Square Inc.’s $100 million venture-capital avalanche announced June 29 could mean that the company’s transaction volume is gaining significant momentum despite its lack of profits, one analyst contends.

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday suggested raising the debit interchange fee cap to 26 cents per transaction – more than double its initial proposal of 12 cents.

Hypercom Corp. announced Tuesday it will be marketing Global Blue's OneInterface software, which combines payment systems with value-added services such as tax free shopping and currency choice at the point of sale.

In a move that could help stave off defection among its multinational customers seeking global commercial card capabilities, U.S. Bancorp on June 28 said its subsidiary Elavon Financial Services Ltd. soon will begin issuing commercial cards in Europe through a new processing agreement it inked with Total System Services Inc., or TSYS.

Citing “shortcomings” with the technology, Australia’s ANZ Banking Group Ltd. has halted development of a microSD iPhone case designed to turn a smartphone into a payment device.

In an exclusive deal for MasterCard Worldwide, Indigo Books & Music Inc.’s plans to deploy terminals that accept the card brand’s PayPass contactless payments in all its stores marks the first such development for a retailer of its kind.

The Secure POS Vendor Alliance, an organization founded by payment-terminal makers Hypercom Corp., Ingenico S.A. and VeriFone Systems Inc., has released standards requiring the terminal industry to handle payment devices properly from the moment they are produced to when they are loaded with customer encryption keys.