By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Not thoroughly knowing merchants and submerchants harbors peril for payment facilitators, and that’s one risk the Electronic Transactions Association hopes to alleviate. The ETA, a Washington-based trade group representing the merchant-acquiring industry, expects to release a set of underwriting guidelines for payment facilitators soon. According to Visa …

• Apple Inc. said it is bringing its Apple Pay mobile-payments service to Japan with its new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus smart phones, and Apple Watch Series 2. Apple Pay will work with Japan’s variant of near-field communication (NFC) contactless technology known as FeliCa. • The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Mobile-payments services have plenty of issues with adoption and usage, but battery fires aren’t likely to be among them. While it’s true that a consumer can’t use a mobile wallet if he’s afraid his smart phone will ignite, payments experts say the problem that developed last …

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it is now supporting Alphabet Inc.’s Android Pay mobile-payment service. Chase, which is in the process of launching its own mobile wallet, Chase Pay, has issued more than 90 million Visa cards. • In related news, Alphabet’s Google unit said it is making Android Pay …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews The payments industry’s efforts to protect sensitive cardholder data and transactions are moves in the right direction. They’ll have to be, because solutions to the epidemic of data breaches and online fraud are going to have to come from the private sector and from consumers’ own precautions. …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Having made peace with Visa Inc. in July, PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a similar agreement Tuesday with MasterCard Inc. that further extends the online payments leader’s reach at the point of sale. But PayPal’s new accord has some differences from the one it reached with Visa, most …

• Noble House Hotels & Resorts, which earlier said it had been notified by the U.S. Secret Service about a possible card-data breach at its Ocean Key Resort & Spa, said it has found through an investigation that card data may have been compromised at 11 other hotels, restaurants, and …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews If misery loves company, then VeriFone Systems Inc. can make room for its arch-rival, France-based Ingenico Group. Ingenico reported Tuesday that a “sudden and significant” decline in U.S. EMV-related revenues, along with weak sales in Brazil, had forced it to lower its revenue and profit forecasts for …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Nearly three-quarters of mobile-phone owners have made some sort of payment with their devices, but in-app, bill, and person-to-person payments all exceed in-store payments, according to new findings from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. The Annapolis, Md.-based consulting and research firm says 74% of mobile-phone-using consumers reported in …

• E-commerce services provider Digital River Inc. released a white paper, “The Subscriptions Generation,” which offers guidance for e-commerce decision-makers and product marketers considering online subscription-based business models. • The Western Union Co. announced it is offering free money transfers from agent locations in most countries to more than 450 agent …