Transaction Processing

• 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 …

If creating faster-payment systems is like putting pieces of a puzzle together, another piece was added Wednesday when payment technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc. announced that processor Jack Henry & Associates Inc. will use ACI’s UP Immediate Payments service to connect its community-bank and credit-union clients to the new real-time …

VeriFone Systems Inc. acknowledged that hackers targeted two dozen convenience stores in an attempt to get at sensitive payment data by infiltrating the point-of-sale terminal maker’s corporate network in January. The confirmation follows a report Tuesday on KrebsOnSecurity.com that disclosed the attack. The site, which specializes in information-technology threats and …

• 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 …

• 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 …

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 …

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 Sterling Payment Technologies, a unit of EVO Payments International, has partnered with RPower Point of Sale, a vendor of point-of-sale software for restaurants, to offer an EMV solution for the hospitality industry. • Merchant processor Square Inc. introduced Caviar pickup, a new feature on its Caviar restaurant food-ordering and delivery service that …

Ever since Ant Financial Services Group let it be known in October that it is working with key payments players like VeriFone Systems Inc. and First Data Corp. to bring its Alipay mobile-payments service to North America, the industry has wondered about the Chinese company’s strategy both in the United …