Law and Regulation

Big banks generally aren’t too thrilled about the Federal Reserve taking a direct operational role in a U.S. real-time payment system, but smaller banks and credit unions as well as some big companies support the idea. The Fed’s two-month comment period on its proposed Real Time Gross Settlement service closed …

A number of U.S. payments providers have expanded overseas in recent years, and now more may have an incentive to do so if recent research showing robust growth in merchant acceptance is any indication. The number of physical stores or outlets accepting payment cards worldwide reached 69.2 million last year, …

Cloud-based point-of-sale system maker ShopKeep said it closed a $65 million funding round, led by Tribeca Venture Partners, that it will use for expansion and growth purposes. New investors include First Data Corp. and Salesforce Ventures. A staff report released by Republicans on the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform …

Payments provider SignaPay released a mobile app for Apple and Android devices called PayLo Mobile Sales to help sales agents selling the PayLo Cash Discount product. Installment-payments provider Sezzle said it raised $100 million in funding from Bastion Capital. Since launching the service more than a year ago, Sezzle says …

Addressing doubts among at least some sellers, eBay Inc. seller advocate Jim “Griff” Griffith said sellers “can put [their] consternation aside” regarding the marketplace giant’s new managed-payments program, which will not include traditional eBay payment method PayPal until next year. Online payments provider Stripe Inc. agreed to use Visa Inc.’s push-payment …

Shares of wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. tumbled 29% Friday morning after the company reported declining revenues and a $125 million settlement with the federal government over lax fraud controls at some agent locations. The settlement involves “allegations that the company failed to take steps required under a 2009 Federal …

Processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) said its Merchant Solutions unit processed 1.53 billion point-of-sale transactions in the third quarter, a 22% increase from 1.26 billion a year earlier. Sales volume rose 30% to $40.9 billion. The Consumer Solutions segment, which includes the Netspend prepaid card operation, posted gross dollar …

Sarah Friar, chief financial officer of merchant processor Square Inc., will leave the company in December after six years to become chief executive of Nextdoor, developer of a private social-network app for neighborhoods. David Viniar, Square’s lead independent director, will lead the search for a new CFO. Square’s stock fell …

Merchant processor Elavon rolled out its self-test platform for providers of payment hardware and software developers to streamline needed certification processes from the card networks and for EMV chip card acceptance; Elavon says the platform can reduce previous four-week certification times to 24 to 48 hours and eliminate the need …

The co-defendant in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s insider-trading lawsuit against former Heartland Payment Systems Inc. chief executive Robert O. Carr will pay $528,608 to the SEC under a settlement approved Thursday by a federal judge. Katherine M. Hanratty, described as Carr’s long-time girlfriend, neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s …