• The U.S. Supreme Court seems divided over whether New York’s ban on credit card surcharges is a form of speech regulation as a group of merchants challenging the state’s anti-surcharge law assert, Reuters reported. The National Retail Federation said the case is about “being able to show the cost of using …

• Independent sales organization Applied Merchant Systems announced it has increased its liquidity following  an expansion of its credit line with Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group and Business Development Corporation of America. In conjunction, Blue Square Resolutions, also an ISO, became a shareholder in the company. • Miami-based NovoPayments, which processes payments throughout …

• The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a U.S. Department of Justice request to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel of the appellate court that, by reversing a lower-court ruling, allows American Express Co. to prevent its merchants from encouraging customers to use lower-cost forms of payment than …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews For the second time in less than two months, a major payments case is coming before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, lawyers for merchants and the state of New York will argue before the eight justices over whether the state’s ban on credit card surcharges constitutes illegal …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Merchants are quite familiar with days like “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” but now they’re waking up to a much less joyful day—“Chargeback Tuesday.” It’s the day when merchants, and online sellers in particular, get hit with the highest number of chargebacks they’ll see in a …

• The Electronic Transactions Association announced its 2017 board of directors and officers, including Jeff Sloan, CEO of merchant processor Global Payments Inc., as chairman and president. An Apple Inc. executive also is serving a two-year term on the board—Eric Hoffman, director of Internet software and services. • The Federal Trade Commission is challenging the public …

• Merchant processor EVO Payments International has acquired payments-solutions specialist Sterling Payment Technologies. Paul Hunter, Sterling’s president and chief executive, will manage the Sterling unit within EVO. Terms of the deal were not announced. • An app called Clarity Money has debuted to help consumers manage their finances by performing such chores as negotiating bills, choosing …

• Processor and retail ATM operator Payment Alliance International acquired Avery Scott LLC, operator of 400 ATMs in the Louisville, Ky., area. PAI, whose network has more than 74,000 ATMs, will retain Avery Scott’s employees and affiliates. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. • E-commerce marketplace Shop.com has contracted with processor World First USA …

• Microsoft Corp. has made further details available about Web Payments, a feature it announced last month it is introducing for both Windows 10 PCs and Windows 10 Mobile. The feature will work with the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers and will allow Microsoft Wallet users to more easily make purchases on …

• Automaker Volkswagen AG has acquired PayByPhone Technologies Inc., according to press reports. A unit of U.K.-based payments processor PayPoint plc, Vancouver-based PayByPhone offers a platform for mobile payments for parking and claims 12.5 million users in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company handles more than $300 million in parking payments annually, according …