The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has provided additional details about evaluating applications for its proposed limited-purpose national bank charter for financial-technology companies, but voices critical of the charter are growing louder. The OCC, a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department that regulates national banks, first proposed the …

Euronet Worldwide Inc., owner of the Ria money-transfer service, early Tuesday announced a $1 billion bid to acquire Dallas-based MoneyGram International Inc. Euronet’s unexpected bid casts a cloud of uncertainty over the $880 million buyout offer China-based Ant Financial Services Group submitted for MoneyGram in January. Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet called …

Ant Financial Services Group issued its first comments late Tuesday on Euronet Worldwide Inc.’s surprise $1 billion bid earlier in the day for MoneyGram International Inc., the wire-transfer provider for which Ant Financial bid $880 million in January. “Ant Financial remains highly committed to the consummation of our merger with …

The week started out on a fusion theme when a private-equity firm said it would buy Canadian payments and financial software developer DH Corp. for C$4.8 billion ($3.6 billion) and merge it with one of its portfolio companies, United Kingdom-based Misys, a software provider for retail and corporate banking. Also …

For mobile-wallet providers, card issuers, and merchants trying to attract consumers to their mobile-payment services, the way to build a base of active customers can be summarized in two words: pay up. New findings from Auriemma Consulting Group based on research with 1,505 payment card holders eligible for mobile-payments programs …

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s North American revenues plunged 30% in the quarter ending Jan. 31 as small and mid-size businesses slowed purchases of VeriFone EMV chip card point-of-sale terminals. But Wall Street took it in stride, and company executives stressed new growth opportunities when they reviewed the leading U.S.-based terminal maker’s …

If creating faster-payment systems is like putting pieces of a puzzle together, another piece was added Wednesday when payment technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc. announced that processor Jack Henry & Associates Inc. will use ACI’s UP Immediate Payments service to connect its community-bank and credit-union clients to the new real-time …

The Zelle person-to-person payments service is about to take on a public face as bank-owned parent company Early Warning Services LLC readies a multifaceted marketing campaign for rollout in the coming weeks and months. “I would say it’s a significant marketing campaign focused on awareness,” Melissa Lowry, vice president of …

When it comes to contactless electronic payment transactions, the U.S. payments industry seems to be more interested in using smart phones than plastic debit or credit cards. But other countries have gone the opposite route. In the United Kingdom, for example, spending on contactless cards reached a record £3.4 billion …

In an effort to cement its ties with restaurants, Square Inc. announced Wednesday it is adding a pick-up feature to its Caviar meal-delivery service and has acquired the OrderAhead restaurant pick-up service. Both moves capitalize on the trend time-strapped consumers buying restaurant meals for consumption elsewhere, be it at home or …