Retailers

Dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co. KG, one of the top two drugstore chains in Germany, is deploying more than 3,700 Hypercom Artema Hybrid payment terminals at its nearly 1,200 retail outlets nationwide, terminal maker Hypercom Corp. announced March 15.

International energy company National Grid PLC has begun offering electronic bills to its U.S. customers through Fiserv Inc.’s e-Bill Distribution system, the companies announced March 14.

Apple Inc. boasts that its iPhone “changes everything,” but against the expectations of many bankers, it may not be changing payments–at least, not this year.

The Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland Council has begun using AppNinjas Inc.’s Swipe Credit Card Terminal for iPhone to accept credit and debit cards from consumers buying members’ cookies, the organization announced March 9.

Yespay International Ltd. has released its application programming interface specifications that merchants may use to integrate Yespay’s mobile-based services into their point-of-sale systems, the London-based payment-services provider announced on March 11.

WASHINGTON – Visa and MasterCard are telling their credit union and bank owners the uncertainty they will face over litigation costs for a pending antitrust case over the networks’ anti-steering provisions will continue indefinitely, even as the controversy escalates over the Federal Reserve’s proposed rules on debit fees.

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China UnionPay has signed an acceptance agreement with US-based Citibank that will see UnionPay cards being accepted in seven other Asian nations, a spokesperson for China’s bankcard association confirms PaymentsSource.

American Express Co.’s plans to test an application program interface that connects its cardholders with social media giant Foursquare Labs Inc. creates a “powerful combination of digital behavior and spending behavior,” David Wolf, AmEx vice president of global marketing capabilities, tells PaymentsSource.

Continued global expansion of EMV smart card programs helped drive revenue and profit growth last year for Gemalto NV’s Secure Transactions unit, which includes banking cards, the France-based smart card vendor announced March 11.

WASHINGTON – Senator Dick Durbin insisted yesterday he will fight every effort to delay the pending implementation of his initiative to lower interchange fees paid to credit unions and banks.

As the health care industry eyes new systems to streamline and improve the collection of payments from patients, New York-based Phreesia Inc. is promoting a tablet-like device that records patients’ personal and insurance information and doubles as a card-payment terminal.

A year after testing mobile capabilities with its customers, Wow Bao, an Asian restaurant with three Chicago locations, is planning to launch a mobile gift card program with Mocapay Inc. by the end of April, PaymentsSource has learned.

The ongoing fight between Square Inc. and rival VeriFone Systems Inc. around payment security highlights the lack of common technical standards for mobile acceptance devices.

ORLANDO, Fla.–Social-network participation is approaching 1 billion consumers globally across such different platforms as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. But prepaid industry executives and merchants are split about how the medium could improve closed-loop gift card sales.

A federal judge has dismissed a shareholder class-action lawsuit brought against VeriFone Systems Inc. following a restatement of three quarters from its 2007 fiscal year caused by accounting errors, VeriFone announced March 9.

Hundreds of neighborhood businesses are calling on the Federal Reserve Board to proceed with the debit interchange provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act in hopes of passing on the savings back to their communities.

The expanding array of services offering merchants advanced encryption of sensitive payment card data is causing competition to heat up among purveyors already jockeying for dominance by touting each product’s specific advantages.

The claims by competitor VeriFone Systems Inc. that Square Inc.’s mobile credit card reader is insecure are unfair and inaccurate, Square’s chief executive contends.

VeriFone Systems Inc. is taking off its gloves in the battle for mobile payment acceptance, claiming rival Square Inc.'s device can be adapted to use for fraud.