Competitive Strategies

• Retailer H&M Group said it will encourage its suppliers to pay their workers via mobile money or other digital funds. The initiative is part of the Better Than Cash Alliance, a United Nations-based federation of governments, companies, and organizations fostering digital payments in lieu of cash. Mastercard Inc. and Visa …

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s North American revenues plunged 30% in the quarter ending Jan. 31 as small and mid-size businesses slowed purchases of VeriFone EMV chip card point-of-sale terminals. But Wall Street took it in stride, and company executives stressed new growth opportunities when they reviewed the leading U.S.-based terminal maker’s …

• Punchh, provider of mobile loyalty systems for restaurants, has introduced a chatbot that allows customers to “converse” with dining clients on Facebook Messenger, Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa, and other platforms. Punchh says the chatbot integrates “quickly and easily” with existing point-of-sale, loyalty, and ordering programs. • Royal Bank of Canada said …

When the nation’s automated clearing house network introduced same-day settlement in September, it was only a matter of time before an application programming interface became available to simplify faster clearing. On Monday, that day arrived with Dwolla Inc.’s announcement that it was commercializing a same-day ACH API. The code, which …

The Zelle person-to-person payments service is about to take on a public face as bank-owned parent company Early Warning Services LLC readies a multifaceted marketing campaign for rollout in the coming weeks and months. “I would say it’s a significant marketing campaign focused on awareness,” Melissa Lowry, vice president of …

• U.K.-based merchant-processing giant Worldpay Group Plc reported its U.S. revenue, which accounts for more than a quarter of its total revenue, increased 15.5% to $299 million in 2016, though the company pointed to weakness in its U.S. business that hurt its overall performance. Average U.S. transaction value declined 2.2% to …

When it comes to contactless electronic payment transactions, the U.S. payments industry seems to be more interested in using smart phones than plastic debit or credit cards. But other countries have gone the opposite route. In the United Kingdom, for example, spending on contactless cards reached a record £3.4 billion …

Processor First Data Corp. and Fleetcor Technologies Inc. are forming a joint venture to consolidate their gift card businesses, First Data announced Monday. The joint venture, whose name was not released, combines First Data’s gift card business, digital gift-card provider Transaction Wireless Inc., and its Gyft unit, with Fleetcor’s Stored …

• Merchant processor Harbortouch Payments LLC said it will integrate cloud-based purchasing and inventory-control software from Sarbari into its point-of-sale offering for the restaurant industry. • Processor and payments-tech developer Dwolla Inc. said it has brought its application programming interface for same-day automated clearing house transactions out of pilot. With this move, …

The restaurant industry has become a focal point for mobile payments, what with efforts to tie payments to technology like mobile loyalty, order-ahead, and delivery apps to appeal to deal-seeking, time-starved diners. Now comes news that startups offering restaurant technology are consistently attracting financing exceeding half a billion dollars annually—a …