Payments Canada, operator of three major payment systems in that country, issued a five-point plan Thursday to put Canada on a path toward faster and more efficient electronic payments. The plan has many similarities with efforts by Canada’s southern neighbor to modernize payments, but also some differences, according to a …

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults now carry a general-purpose credit card, and credit cards are gaining popularity with young adults, according to new consumer survey findings from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. The Maynard, Mass.-based research and consulting firm reported this week that 63% of U.S. consumers have a major-brand credit …

Despite years of efforts by transit agencies, payments companies and banks to get mass-transit riders to switch to cards or mobile tickets, most riders still prefer to pay fares with cash and regard cash as the most secure payment form, according to new survey results from payment technology provider ACI …

The U.S. Treasury Dept.’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks, plans to create a special-purpose national bank charter for financial technology companies, a booming field in which payments firms play prominent roles. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry divulged the planned charter during a speech Friday at …

In a move that expands its business as a provider of risk-control services for merchants and card issuers, Visa Inc. announced Thursday that it has a deal to acquire e-commerce payment-authentication provider CardinalCommerce Corp. Founded in 1999, Mentor, Ohio-based CardinalCommerce’s signature product is Cardinal Secure Authentication, a service that uses …

The National Retail Federation predicts consumers will spend $27.5 billion on gift cards this holiday season, up 5.8% from $26 billion in 2015. The increase follows the 18% plunge last year from $31.7 billion in 2014, which was the highest gift card spending total in at least seven years on NRF surveys. …

Citing the difficulties that gas stations are having in retrofitting fuel pumps to accept EMV chip cards, Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are postponing their Oct. 1, 2017, EMV liability shift for U.S. automated fuel dispensers (AFDs) until Oct. 1, 2020. Visa announced the postponement in a blog posting early Thursday. The …

Sports and entertainment venue operator The Madison Square Garden Co. (MSG) on Tuesday disclosed a nearly year-long breach of payment card information involving customers who bought concessions at five of its venerable properties. And a new study from Federal Reserve researchers makes six recommendations for improving mobile-payments security, one of …

Visa Inc. disclosed Tuesday that it has modified its chip debit card transaction-routing policies in the wake of the increasing governmental scrutiny the largest payment card network’s routing practices have attracted since EMV chip cards took hold in the U.S. beginning last year. A key change assures merchants that they …

Merchant acquirer Square Inc. started out offering credit and debit card acceptance to tiny businesses and part-time sellers who wanted to accept plastic, but volume from Square’s biggest merchants grew 55% year-over-year in the third quarter and now accounts for 43% of Square’s gross volume. Square, which refers to all …