Fitbit introduced its first smart watch, the Ionic, which features contactless-payment capability. Over the coming months users can add tokenized American Express Co. cards as well as Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. credit and debit cards from certain banks around the world, including Bank of America, Capital One, HSBC, and U.S. Bank in the United States, …

Independent sales organization BluePay Processing LLC acquired Security Card Services, a merchant-services provider for community and regional banks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Canadian mobile-payments provider Dream Payments has expanded a dealer program whereby wireless and electronics distributors sell the company’s mobile point-of-sale terminal in-store and online. Currently, more than 100 retailers …

American Express Co. says it disagrees with an opinion from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that differences in card products it offered in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Territories from cards it offered in the United States amounted to discrimination. AmEx says it resolved the differences in 2013 after …

QualPay, a provider of cloud-based, integrated-payments solutions, launched a developer portal allowing integrators to evaluate and deploy payment services. Person-to-person payments by users of services offered by community banks and credit unions average $450, compared to $25 for users of Venmo, a popular third-party app, according to data from Malauzai Software, …

Steven A. Rathgaber, who has been chief executive of ATM-networking firm Cardtronics plc since 2010, will retire at the end of the year and will be succeeded by Edward H. West, currently chief financial officer and chief operations officer, the company announced. Rathgaber came to Cardtronics from the NYCE electronic funds transfer …

Financial-services processor Fiserv Inc. announced it has acquired real-time payments provider Dovetail Group Ltd. Terms were not announced. Payments provider Spectrum Payments said it joined the National Rural Health Association as a pipeline partner, enabling it to offer merchant services to association members. Blockchain technology firm BTCS Inc. said it has signed a non-binding letter of intent …

A global payments initiative called P20 will convene its first meeting Oct. 10 in London. Government officials and regulators from the United Kingdom and the United States are expected to attend, along with 20 payments-industry leaders. The conference is intended to promote the importance of payments and financial technology to …

Merchant processor and payments-technology provider Cayan has achieved EMV chip card certification with processor Worldpay US, adding to EMV certifications with Chase, Vantiv, First Data, and Elavon. Worldpay’s parent, Worldpay Group plc, will be acquired by Vantiv in a $12 billion deal expected to close early next year. Merchant processor Net Element Inc. said its PayOnline …

The international financial-messaging service SWIFT is set to offer a gateway for U.S. financial institutions to link to a real-time payments facility offered by The Clearing House, a payments company owned by major U.S. banks. Team One Credit Union, a Michigan financial institution, has added Bukoski Agency, a fuel retailer, to its …

Merchant-payments provider iPayment Inc. is getting into the burgeoning merchant cash-advance business with iPayment Capital, a new unit expected to come online in the fall. Headed by former Bizfi executive Tomo Matsuo, the unit will initially focus on the funding needs of iPayment’s 137,000 merchants. IT security professionals are struggling to respond to cybersecurity …