Person-to-Person Payments

  Google Inc. released a trio of announcements on Wednesday concerning its Google Wallet mobile-payments application, but even taken together these did not add up to the major overhaul of the product that Google promised last fall. Google’s news included: a Wallet-based person-to-person payments service that works with Gmail, Google’s …

  With electronic person-to-person payments volumes booming thanks to an ever-growing list of services from transaction processors, banks and companies such as PayPal, the automated clearing house network is trying to position itself as a P2P player. ACH governing body NACHA on Tuesday introduced bankers to a new rule it …

  Proponents of same-day settlement of automated clearing house transactions are now pinning their hopes on an enhanced same-day service from the Federal Reserve that contains many elements in a proposal from ACH governing body NACHA that failed last August despite widespread banker support. The beefed-up Fed service, however, still …

  Fiserv Inc. on Wednesday announced it is adding a capability to its Popmoney person-to-person payment service that will let users send money within seconds to intended recipients. The new feature, called Popmoney Instant Payments, relies on debit-network clearing and comes as more and more processors are harnessing these networks …

  Great news for mobile payments: the Federal Reserve says the percentage of consumers using a smart phone to make a purchase at the point of sale grew nearly threefold last year. Not-so-great news: don’t rely on that figure, because it’s too small to be statistically significant. Those and other …

A spate of cease-and-desist orders by the state of Illinois against unlicensed money transmitters has ensnared eight payments companies, including such prominent ones as Square Inc. and NetSpending Holdings Inc. An agency quietly issued orders against both firms in January that seemingly would prevent them from doing business in the …

  The effort to harness debit card networks for near-instant person-to-person payments is moving apace. The latest development is this week’s announcement that the Houston-based Pulse electronic funds transfer network has enabled a service that will let cardholders pay each other by entering their debit card PINs on a so-called …

  Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on Monday rolled out its entry in the person-to-person payments sweepstakes and, as with other providers in recent months, its service offers real-time settlement. Indeed, People Pay—the name FIS has given its new P2P service—is built on the PayNet network the company introduced …

  The effort to bring near-real-time person-to-person payments to the customers of smaller financial institutions took another step on Wednesday with the announcement the Sprig digital-wallet service from Co-Op Financial Services, a processor and network operator that links some 3,000 credit unions. The new service, available for both mobile devices …

The Shazam debit network on Monday took a step closer to entering the fray for near real-time person-to-person payments with the launch of its Shazam Bolts mobile app. The app, which works on smart phones and tablets running Apple Inc.’s iOS software, will initially enable financial-institution customers to receive alerts …