Debit Cards

With proposals aimed at controlling merchants’ costs for accepting credit cards having re-emerged in Congress, research has been emerging on both sides of the issue this summer as advocates for sellers and card issuers compete to influence any eventual legislation. The latest thrust appeared Monday with a research report arguing …

Merchant Lynx Services has acquired National Credit Card Processing Group, a provider of B2B payment solutions, for an undisclosed sum. National Card Processing specializes in payment acceptance for the construction and heavy-duty trucking parts and repairs, concrete ready mix, asphalt and aggregate supply, and highway civil construction industries. The acquisition …

In a fleeting 10-minute conference call, FIS Inc. announced early Thursday a move to sell a 55% interest in its merchant-processing business, which principally consists of the Worldpay unit it acquired four years ago, to the private-equity firm GTCR. The deal is expected to close by the end of the …

Travel-technology provider Sabre Corp. announced it has acquired Techsembly, a gift card and e-commerce platform for hotels. The U.S. Payments Forum published a white paper outlining the impact of the Federal Reserve’s clarification that debit card issuers must enable a choice of two unaffiliated networks for all transactions, including card-not-present payments. The clarification took effect …

On Saturday, a final rule issued in October by the Federal Reserve goes into effect, requiring that all issuers offer a choice of at least two networks for routing online debit card transactions. The update, derived from the 2010 Durbin Amendment, has been a bone of contention for years between merchants and issuers. …

Fulfilling a promise it made seven months ago, Block Inc.’s Square merchant-acquiring unit on Wednesday announced it will offer an American Express-branded credit card to its sellers that gives rewards in the form of lower processing costs. Square also announced several enhancements to its financial services to get more of …

PayPal Holdings Inc. is adding tap to pay on mobile phones to its U.S. Venmo users with business profiles. The Tap to Pay on Android technology enables merchants that accept Venmo payments to do so using conventional Android smart phones without having to attach a special payment dongle. The service …

The explosive potential that lies in recent advances in artificial intelligence is beginning to be felt in the payments business as banks and fintechs search for ways to wring intelligible trends and operational improvements out of enormous masses of data. The nascent trend toward AI in payments was underscored by …

Travel companies experienced a 71% growth in chargebacks in the past few years, according to the “Tackling the Travel Chargeback Challenge” report from Outpayce from Amadeus, a global travel company. The survey canvassed 46 airline and travel agent executives in the second quarter. The Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. started an industry forum …

Leading ATM manufacturer NCR Corp. took a big step Monday toward its goal of splitting into two independent companies with the filing of a registration statement for the spin-off of its ATM business. After a strategic review that included the possible sale of the entire company, Atlanta-based NCR announced the …