If hype augurs success, the new Square payments application for mobile merchants is off to a promising start. The product, announced this week by a San Francisco startup called Square Inc., is attracting attention not just in the payments business but in the wider business community. That's because Square's founder …

Electronic payments are showing signs of life as consumers open up their wallets and purses early in this holiday spending season. But just how wide they'll open those wallets and purses as the season goes on is uncertain. The early take is that volumes are up from 2008's anemic levels, …

Credit card charge volumes have fallen this year and debit card volumes, while still in positive territory, are running far below the growth rates they enjoyed before the recession hit. But prepaid cards remain the one bright spot, according to a new market analysis from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Maynard, …

A comparison-shopping application that works on mobile phones will soon tie into PayPal Inc.'s payment platform, blurring the distinction between online commerce and brick-and-mortar retailing and setting the stage for potentially big transaction volumes. Alexander Muse, co-founder of Dallas-based Big in Japan Inc., says he expects his company's ShopSavvy app …

Low-hanging fruit it's not, but health care still remains one of the biggest untapped markets for electronic payments. A new report from Celent LLC estimates that $11 billion could be saved by automating just part of the health-care payments process. And a new industry group is forming to marshal the …

Although implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) begins Tuesday, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services next week will hold a hearing on two bills that would replace or set a new date for implementation of the controversial gambling legislation. A hearing on the new …

The increasing popularity of smart phones, which has given a big lift this year to consumer adoption of mobile banking and payments, has brought with it an ominous new threat of fraud. Last week, the Dutch security firm XS4All reported on a worm that infects iPhones and allows hackers to …

USA Technologies Inc., the provider of contactless card readers and wireless transaction-processing services for vending machines, laundries and other venues, has become the latest payments-industry tech company whose management finds itself embroiled in a fight with shareholders angry about losses and slumping stock prices. Malvern, Pa.-based USA Technologies sent a …

U.S. financial institutions have made considerable progress in fighting identity fraud, but still lag in their use of one of the most potent weapons in their arsenal: putting anti-fraud controls in the hands of the consumer. That's according to research released on Tuesday by Javelin Strategy & Research. The Pleasanton, …

With one week to go until Cyber Monday, the e-commerce equivalent of the day after Thanksgiving in physical stores, the early read on the 2009 e-commerce holiday-shopping season is that it will probably continue 2008's trends. Last year was most notable for its decline in average tickets as consumers put …