Coveted word-of-mouth advertising is failing the mobile-payments services offered by technology giants. That’s the assessment from the Q1-2018 Mobile Pay Tracker report from Auriemma Consulting Group. Though 34% of consumers among the more than 1,500 surveyed use mobile payments—up five points from a year ago—not many are as willing to …

Processing giant First Data Corp. said on Monday Walmart Inc. has added Star signature debit acceptance to its roster of payment options. The company also noted that its integrated payments business continues to grow. Both observations came during the Atlanta-based company’s first-quarter earnings call with equity analysts. For the quarter, …

EVO Payments International says it plans to go public and has filed an S-1 registration statement with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Atlanta-based payments company announced the move late Wednesday. Though the registration statement does not reveal how much EVO expects to raise by going public, the company says …

Speculation that Visa Checkout and Masterpass brands may be on the way out has surfaced following announcements last week from Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. they would support a shared buy button for online purchases based on EMVCo’s Secure Remote Commerce specification. Reports of a possible phaseout of Masterpass, launched …

Mastercard Inc. says it is preparing for a better online payments experience by backing the EMVCo secure remote commerce specification. Visa Inc., too, says it supports the spec. The specification, announced in November, establishes the technical framework for enabling consumers to use their payment cards across channels more easily than …

What impact can fraud-prevention services have on merchant retention? Apparently, quite a bit, finds the “State of Payment Processing & Fraud: 2018 Report” from Kount Inc. Kount, a Boise, Idaho-based risk-management technology provider, found that 75% of approximately 150 payment-processor respondents say offering fraud-control tools improved merchant retention. The high …

Klarna Inc. is bringing another of its buy now/pay later products to the U.S. market this summer with broader availability later in the year. That’s the word from Jim Lofgren, chief executive of Klarna Inc., the North American arm of the Sweden-based online payments firm. Lofgren, speaking to Digital Transactions …

VeriFone Systems Inc. once again is preparing to become a privately held enterprise, according to Monday’s announcement that an investor group led by Francisco Partners has agreed to buy the point-of-sale terminal and services provider for $3.4 billion. The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, values each VeriFone …

Payments companies wondering how digital payments will evolve and what impact today’s younger consumers might have as they age may want to consider the role of apps, suggests the “Future of Money Study 2018” from Koski Research Inc. San Francisco-based Koski, in research that included 1,000 U.S. adults and a …

Count Best Buy Co. Inc. as another unwilling member of the [24]7.ai Inc. breach that has yielded customer payment information already from Sears Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. In a statement released Thursday, Best Buy disclosed that an unspecified number of customers were affected when the online chat …