Transaction Processing

The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority announced Monday that its initial investigation has found that PayPal Holdings Inc.’s September acquisition of Swedish processor iZettle AB could reduce competition or raise prices in the payments market. But whether the antitrust regulator will unwind the deal is far from certain. “While …

More consumers took to their smart phones this past Friday, known as Black Friday, at the expense of shopping online with a desktop computer, finds Akamai Technologies, a Web-services company. Consumers using mobile devices accounted for 57.6% of online shopping on Nov. 23, compared with 35.9% for those using desktop …

Bitcoin’s return to volatility in recent days isn’t the only issue the digital currency confronts as it seeks to establish a toehold in the world of payments. As it turns out, its use in actual payment transactions is shrinking fast, according to numbers compiled by Chainalysis Inc., a New York …

Mobile remote deposit capture software provider Mitek Systems Inc. reported that chief financial officer Jeffrey C. Davison, who in August said he would resign effective Nov. 30, has changed his mind and won’t quit. Mitek’s board of directors accepted the rescission. Long-time chief executive Jim DeBello recently left and has …

After slipping the previous two years, spending at independent shops and restaurants jumped 38% to an estimated $17.8 billion on Small Business Saturday, American Express Co. and the National Federation of Independent Business trade group reported Monday. AmEx founded the Saturday-after-Thanksgiving promotion in 2010 to highlight locally owned businesses in …

PayPal Holdings Inc. has been trying to make money off of its highly popular but free peer-to-peer payments service, Venmo, but over the weekend a report emerged indicating a surge in fraud could have complicated that effort. Venmo sustained a transaction loss rate of 0.40% in March, up from 0.25% …

Worldpay Inc. and Paysafe Group announced a partnership to establish a payments platform for the U.S. online-gaming and sports-betting sector. The U.S. Secret Service lit up Operation Deep Impact last week in a nationwide initiative to find and remove credit and debit card skimming devices on fuel pumps. Following a …

Chevron and Texaco fuel retailers have another option when considering EMV upgrades at the pump with the debut of a Gilbarco Veeder-Root program. Launched this week, the program enables these convenience-store operators to trade in their current non-EMV-compliant equipment from their pumps for the Passport POS service from Greensboro, N.C.-based …

Payments experts may think mobile technology is crucial for banks and other financial-service providers, but it turns out a significant chunk of financial institutions don’t agree. Fourteen percent of respondents in a survey this summer of banks and credit unions said they not only don’t offer mobile payments and other …

Processor Pineapple Payments said it is offering merchant services on the platform of OnPay Solutions, a provider of accounts-payable and accounts-receivable automation services for businesses. First Data Corp. launched its Clover Mini and Clover Flex smart point-of-sale terminals in Argentina. Elo, a bank-owned payment network in Brazil, agreed to work with …