How will 2019 be remembered for data breaches? Not well. The number of U.S. data breaches tracked by the Identity Theft Resource Center increased to 1,473, a 17% increase from 1,257 in 2018. Drilling into the payments sector, the increase was larger, according to a newly released report from the …

As merchants consider updates to their point-of-sale systems this year, many—59%—want to add omnichannel capabilities, finds the 2020 POS/Customer Engagement Survey from Retail Consulting Partners. Conducted in late 2019, the survey collected responses more than 50 North American retailers with annual revenue ranging from $100 million to more than $10 …

New York City became the third U.S. city to ban cashless-only payments in restaurants and stores with the passage Thursday of a measure to prohibit merchants from refusing to accept cash. San Francisco and Philadelphia have similar bans, as does the state of New Jersey.  Originally proposed by New York …

In another move solidifying its emboldened links with Chinese payments providers, PayPal Holdings Inc. announced Wednesday it will support UnionPay International in its digital wallet. Eventually, UnionPay International, whose financial-institution members have issued more than 7.5 billion cards globally, according to China Daily, will look for ways to support PayPal’s …

Payment firms that are used to choosing which PIN standard to audit against now have a much simpler choice. The Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. and the PCI Security Standards Council have created a unified PIN Security Standard, replacing separate ones each organization previously maintained. The consolidation, announced Tuesday, should …

Two payments companies specializing in serving software application providers announced integrations. First, Pars Consulting Inc. completed the integration of LawPay, a payment service for law practices, for Curo365, a legal-practice software. Redmond, Wash.-based Pars said the LawPay integration with Curo365 will increase clients for both. “There were lots of payment …

Consumers motoring in their Dodge Challengers and Ram pickup trucks are now able to pay for fuel at participating Shell Oil Co. gas stations from inside their vehicles using the vehicles’ infotainment systems. Shell announced Fiat Chrysler automobiles with Uconnect Market enabled will have access to the Shell Pay & Save …

The newly-signed trade agreement between the United States and China, the number-one and number-two global economies, respectively, finally provides an avenue for U.S. payments firms to operate independently in China. Joint payments ventures with a local Chinese partner have long been the norm, but the new U.S.-China trade agreement—signed Jan. …

Acquirers are jumping into 2020 with major rebranding and PCI-compliance programs. First up is National Payment Systems. The Portland, Ore.-based company has a new name—Boom Commerce—and has expanded its executive team, the payments provider announced.  Helping to propel this shift is a credit facility with Acrewood Holdings LLC, a Bryn …

Even though contactless credit and debit card transactions made by tapping a card against a point-of-sale device rely on the same standard as EMV dipped transactions, consumers have different impressions of the security benefits, a newly released study says. Indeed, 81% of the 1,350 consumers surveyed for the “Emerging Trends at …