Acquiring

By John Stewart@DTPaymentNews The U.S. EMV transition that began in earnest last October has brought with it a lot of pain, but few issues have been more agonizing for merchants than the flood of chargebacks they’re seeing for the first time. Now estimates are emerging that begin to quantify that …

• The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and its Michigan State Disbursement unit are allowing parents who choose a cash option online for child-support payments to make the payments at 7-Eleven and Family Dollar stores, with processing handled by PayNearMe. The arrangement follows a similar venture in which PayNearMe …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews It’s no secret the U.S. point of sale is undergoing perhaps the most extensive overhaul in its long and storied history, but now there’s evidence that a crowd of technology startups are sharing in the bounty that sweeping modernization is generating. Point-of-sale startups will likely reap …

• Prepaid card provider Green Dot Corp. reported that second-quarter net income more than doubled from a year earlier to $7.78 million on a 2% increase in operating revenues to $173.5 million. While Green Dot’s active card count of 4.28 million was down 11% from a year earlier, purchase volume …

• The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index found that checks, at 90%, and cash, at 72%, continue to reign as the top payment methods accepted by small businesses. A printed check from a bill-pay service was next, at 53%, followed by credit or debit card at a point-of-sale terminal, 42%, …

Card-brand efforts to improve consumers’ perceptions of EMV transaction speeds took a step ahead this week when a grocer debuted updated EMV software on its point-of-sale systems. New Seasons Markets, including its New Leaf Community Markets unit, is now using the Quick Chip and M/Chip Fast technologies from Visa Inc. …

By Jim Daly @DTPaymentNews Square Inc. reported Wednesday that its payment volume grew 42% in the second quarter to $12.5 billion, and, while still reporting a loss, the merchant processor edged toward profitability as its adjusted revenues jumped 54%. Square, which began signing merchants in 2010, also raised its financial …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews A relatively new program geared at shoring up data security at small merchants is making progress toward a crucial January deadline, but not without some full-throated grumbling, if comments and questions at an industry trade show this week in Grapevine, Texas, were any indication. The program, …

• International Business Machines Corp. reportedly is in early talks to acquire iPad-based point-of-sale technology provider Revel Systems Inc., according to Bloomberg. • Investment firm Battery Ventures said it reached an agreement to acquire Bluepoint Solutions Inc., a privately-owned image-capture and document-management firm, and will merge it with Alogent, a …

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