Retailers

The allure of mobile payments, which Generator Research, a United Kingdom-based research firm, estimates will grow to an estimated $600 billion worldwide by 2014, has drawn AT&T Inc. into the fray, as have the merchants accepting payments via their phones. The telecommunication giant announced July 7 it will work with Apriva to sell the wireless-payments company’s AprivaPay and AprivaPay Professional mobile-payment services.

Merchants may pay recurring bills using a portion of their payment card settlement funds through PayFast, a service Integrity Payment Systems LLC launched earlier this month.

Paul A. Rianda is an attorney who has specialized in providing legal advice to the bankcard industry for more than 10 years. His e-mail is paul@riandalaw.com.

ISOs looking to compete against free-terminal programs and to boost their profit margins may turn to Asia-made point-of-sale terminals.

New debit card interchange rules that are likely to go into effect next year if the Senate passes the financial services reform bill could take a bite out of ISOs’ profit margins, observers say.

Merchants do not need to retain a full 16-digit card number to resolve a transaction dispute, despite demands from some acquirers and processors, according to Visa Inc.

Merchants may pay recurring bills using a portion of their payment card settlement funds through PayFast, a service Integrity Payment Systems LLC launched earlier this month.

Consumers remained cautious in June, using their payments cards to spend just 6.8% more than they did during the same month last year. The growth in their spending activity also was down from the 9.2% rise in May compared with the same month in 2009, according to First Data’s SpendTrend report.

China Unionpay recently signed an acceptance agreement with Dubai-based Network International LLC, the largest payment acquirer in the United Arab Emirates.

Vietnam Eximbank has begun acquiring merchants in Vietnam for acceptance of cards issued by Japan-based JCB International under an agreement the two companies signed last fall, according to JCB.

An unnamed quick-serve restaurant chain is testing Apple Inc.’s iPad portable computer as a customer-facing ordering and payment device, according to OrderTalk Inc., which makes online ordering systems for restaurants.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council has removed two Ingenico S.A. PIN pads from the list of approved PIN-entry devices following reports they are susceptible to breaches.

New debit card interchange rules that are likely to go into effect next year if the financial services reform bill passes could take a bite out of independent service organizations’ profit margins, observers say (see story).

Visa Inc. says it intends to work with merchants that fail to meet two July 1 payment-security deadlines.

A year or so from now, merchants likely will be paying less to accept debit cards, and financial institutions will be earning less revenue issuing them. And some issuers may have to reacquaint themselves with PIN-debit brands not associated with Visa Inc. or MasterCard Worldwide.

Suppose Congress approves the Dodd-Frank Act, and small issuers with less than $10 billion in assets are exempt from debit card-interchange rules the Federal Reserve Board eventually deems “reasonable and proportional.” How will merchants know whose debit cards are exempt?

Springbok Services Inc.’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing suggests the prepaid card market is beginning to enter into a period of uncertainty off the heels of new government regulation and slimming margins, observes one analyst.

Two payments companies, BluePay Processing LLC and Trustwave, separately last week announced new encryption services for merchants.

Precidia Technologies Inc. says Micro$ale POS will use Precidia’s TransNet payment application in its point-of-sale systems. Ottawa, Canada-based Precidia says TransNet converts payment transactions so they can be sent via an Internet-protocol connection. Brandon, Fla.-based Micro$ale makes POS systems for use in quick-serve and full-service restaurants.

Central Bancompany, a Jefferson City, Mo.-based banking firm, will use Clearent LLC’s merchant services, Clearent announced last week.