Small banks spent $90 million to reissue 7.5 million credit and debit cards in the wake of a payment-card data breach at The Home Depot Inc., says the Independent Community Bankers of America association, which has more than 6,500 member banks. First publicly known in September the Home Depot …

MasterCard Inc. opened up its payment network to third-party software developers in 2012 and since then has participated in a number of regional “hackathons” in which developers create applications that link to MasterCard network services. Now MasterCard is expanding its footprint in the developer space by sponsoring what it calls …

  Consumer behavior poses just as much of a threat to the proper use of passwords as do the actions of criminals intent on cracking those passwords. That’s the assessment of a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based consulting firm. The “In Search Of A Better …

  Gift cards sales in 2014 will top $124 billion in the United States, but that comes amid slowing growth, says a new report from CEB TowerGroup. The Arlington, Va.-based advisory firm predicts that gift card sales will see annual growth rates from 5% to 6% through 2017, an indication …

By Rick Oglesby, Double Diamond Payments Research Apple Pay was the talk of the Money20/20 trade show last month, but should it have been? Before Apple Pay can become a dominant payment vehicle, merchants need the ability to accept it (only about 2% of merchant locations can do so today), …

MasterCard Inc. said Monday it is taking a two-pronged approach to developing interactive payment cards with an investment in Dynamics Inc., a maker of interactive payment cards, and a deal to commercialize the devices. Pittsburgh-based Dynamics makes payment cards that have features such as buttons, display and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Consumers can …

What’s that big, juicy new target out there for cyber-hackers? Apple Pay, of course. And don’t forget ATMs, either, since many deployers have yet to upgrade machines running old, increasingly vulnerable versions of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP operating system. Apple Pay and ATMs are included on Woburn, Mass.-based data-security services …

Well into the annual Cyber Monday shopping frenzy, online sales are up nearly 9% compared to last year, while mobile devices are driving more traffic and sales, continuing a trend established on Thanksgiving and on Black Friday. That’s according to IBM Corp.’s Digital Analytics service, which is reporting periodically on …

Health-care electronic funds transfers via the automated clearing house network increased by 177% from October 2013, the first full month a new rule intended to spur such payments was in effect, through September 2014, ACH governing body NACHA reported Monday. Herndon, Va.-based NACHA says transaction volume in September was 15.5 …

With Black Friday results nearly in the books, the holiday-shopping season has officially started, though some observers argue it really began this year on Thanksgiving day itself with a flurry of mobile commerce. Much of that commerce is being driven by users of Apple Inc. devices. Controlling by far the …