An investment consortium led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is buying First American Payment Systems L.P., a Fort Worth, Texas-based payment processor and independent sales organization, in a deal that observers say highlights the profitability of merchant processing, despite ongoing margin pressure. First American says the Toronto-based pension …

  Pose POS Ltd., a cloud-based point-of-sale system, has changed its pricing model to a free one, at least for the monthly fee. Formerly $49 a month for the POS service, Pose now charges nothing to use its app, which is available on any device that can operate Google Inc.’s …

Visa Inc. says its new online payment service, Visa Checkout, should help improve conversion rates for e-commerce retailers by making it easier for consumers to pay. The service, available in the United States, Canada and Australia, enables consumers to pay online on any device, Visa says. Visa Checkout replaces the …

Robert A. Jenisch, publisher of Digital Transactions, Digital Transactions News, and digitaltransactions.net, received the Industry Achievement Award from the MidWest Acquirers Association on Wednesday. The award, which recognizes substantial career accomplishments and contributions in the U.S. merchant-acquiring industry, was given to Jenisch during the MWAA’s annual conference in Lombard, Ill. …

  Increasing competition, slow growth, and staying abreast of changing technology top the list of issues facing independent sales organizations and merchant acquirers during the next 12 months, finds a new report from Adil Consulting. Fifty-two percent of respondents cited competition as the top trend, followed by growth, 48%, and …

  Bluetooth low energy beacons will play a key role in a mobile payment and loyalty service being developed by SK Planet Inc. and DoubleBeam Inc. that promises easier mobile payments and offer redemption. The beacons connect Bluetooth low energy-compatible smart phones with DoubleBeam’s GoPago tablet-based point-of-sale system. Now in …

  Bitcoin vault provider Xapo Ltd. is days away from sending debit cards backed by the digital currency to consumers with registered Xapo Bitcoin accounts. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup, which is incorporated in Hong Kong, also raised $20 million in a recent investment round, bringing its total investment bounty …

By Kevin Woodward Venture capitalist Timothy Draper wants to use the nearly 30,000 Bitcoins he won last week in an auction held by the U.S. Marshals Service to fund a Bitcoin trading platform targeting emerging markets, he said last week following the auction. He would not disclose the price of …

Retailers have a hearty sense of confidence when it comes to how quickly their organizations would detect a data breach, especially one that targets sensitive payment information, finds a survey from Tripwire Inc., a data-security company. In the survey of 154 retail organizations, 60% said their systems could detect a …

Small businesses using Vend Ltd. point-of-sale systems and a mobile-payment acceptance app from Flint Mobile Inc. can now link payment data from these services to their QuickBooks Online accounts. Vend is a New Zealand-based company that markets a POS system that works on desktop computers, Apple computers, and the iPad. …