Visa Inc. on Thursday said it will introduce transaction alerts and other services that will work with Google Inc.'s new Android operating system for mobile phones. The world's largest payments network also said it has developed contactless-payment and money-transfer applications for a new handset from Nokia that features near-field communication …

Visa Inc. this week announced it would permit the widespread issuance of unembossed consumer credit and debit cards and business debit cards. In doing so, Visa played up the advantages to issuers, including less-complex supply-chain management, quicker activation, the ability to issue cards to customers in person at bank and …

The rising popularity of so-called rich-content files is providing cybercriminals a fertile opportunity to spread malicious software that lets them steal passwords, PINs, and other sensitive information on the Internet, according to a report released on Tuesday. Whereas before viruses, Trojans, and other such malware tended to be found on …

Congress is preoccupied with bailing out Wall Street and mortgage-loan holders, but a bill quietly passed the House Financial Services Committee last week that payment-industry interests hope will become law before the 110th Congress adjourns. That's H.R. 6870, “The Payments System Protection Act of 2008,” a measure that would clarify …

Although observers report the economic downturn has soured many restaurants on so-called pay-at-table technology for the time being, some independent sales organizations see opportunity in the market and are moving ahead with plans to exploit it. Alpine Payment Systems, an ISO in Vancouver, Wash., that processes payments for about 100 …

Yet another bill-payment study is out, and this one not surprisingly predicts electronic channels will continue displacing mail and other forms of manual payment. More surprising is how soon electronic payments will surpass physical forms of payment: next year, according to Aite Group LLC. Aite forecasts consumers will make 10.2 …

With National City Corp. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc moving portfolios into its camp, Visa Inc. scored two big debit card wins over MasterCard Inc. this week in the bank card networks' ceaseless struggle to curry issuer and merchant favor. Analysts say the payment industry can expect to …

Merchant acquirer Moneris Solutions Inc. reported on Thursday that it has an agreement with the federal government to buy the assets of Humboldt Merchant Services, a Eureka, Calif.-based acquirer with nearly $2.5 billion in annualized charge volume, 18,000 merchants concentrated in California and other western states, and a strong network …

Sensing a strong shift among consumers away from credit and toward cashlike payment, ModaSolutions Inc.' s eBillme online-payment system plans to pump a large share of its resources into recruiting new merchants and funding promotions with those merchants to attract more buyers, the company's top executive says. Much of the …

A new study by Javelin Strategy and Research has a bit of good news about last-minute, or expedited, bill payments and about another hot topic, mobile payments. Some 45% of the consumer group Javelin calls “mobile bankers” make an expedited payment at least once a month compared with only 30% …