Acquiring

Back-to-school shopping means big dollars for many merchants. In fact, the National Retail Federation predicts parents will spend $82.8 billion, and both online and brick-and-mortar retailers are hoping to get a piece of the action. Unfortunately, so are the fraudsters. This year’s back-to-school shopping, already in progress, is sure to …

Criminals were able to infiltrate another point-of-sale system, this one used by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, a unit of Darden Restaurants. Announced Wednesday, the breach involved Cheddar’s locations in 23 states. Payment card information, including card numbers, from consumers who used them at Cheddar’s restaurants between Nov. 3, 2017, and Jan. …

Despite its detractors, the so-called gig economy that relies on freelance workers looks like it’s here to stay. And Lyft Inc., a leading ride-share provider that’s a major player in the gig economy, would like to see the payments industry evolve to meet the gig economy’s needs. Ashwin Raj, the …

Priority Technology Holdings Inc. said it purchased PPS Northeast, a former independent brand licensed office of Priority Payment Systems for an undisclosed amount. Payments provider CellPoint Mobile said its payment platform is now available to users of Runtriz’s hotel point-of-sale software for hotels and casinos. NACHA, the governing body for …

Best known as an online payment processor, Adyen N.V.’s point-of-sale processing volume in 2018’s first half more than doubled in a year, the Amsterdam-based firm reported Wednesday. In its first earnings report since its June initial public offering, Adyen, which has U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, reported processed volume of …

In response to Canada’s moves to introduce further regulation of its payments industry, the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Transactions Association said this week it is “expanding” its advocacy effort into that country. So far, the ETA’s effort includes hiring a lobbyist to represent the interests of Canadian payments companies and U.S. …

U.S. consumers are apt to have more money—$485 on average—in their PayPal Holdings Inc. accounts than cash in their wallet, $196, finds the Future of Money Study from Logica Research. San Francisco-based Logica Research, formerly Koski Research Inc., also found that 58% of Americans have a PayPal account. A number of …

Finalsite, a marketing and communication platform for the education industry, launched Finalsite Payments by integrating BlueSnap’s Payments for Platforms service. Fiserv Inc. introduced enhanced authentication techniques specifically aimed at call-center fraud. Mercator Advisory Group Inc. released its “U.S. Faster Payments Forecast, 2017-2021, Update: The Consequences of Faster Payments” research report. …

Notoriously picky about which payment forms it accepts, Costco Wholesale Corp. is now accepting Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay in its U.S. stores. With 519 locations, Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco is the nation’s third-largest brick-and-mortar retailer, according to the National Retail Federation. In its warehouse-like stores, it accepts debit …

Payment-processing technology company Pineapple Payments has acquired payment-gateway provider Transax for undisclosed terms. The deal represents the fifth acquisition this year for Pineapple, which says it is processing $3 billion in annual volume for more than 13,000 merchants. Payments-technology provider linked2pay introduced what it calls instant merchant settlements for credit …