Vetting a new merchant takes a lot of work, but the plethora of nontraditional data may make it a little easier. How do you tell the difference between a bot applying for a merchant account and an actual human doing it? The answer might lie in social-media profiles and a …

Canada’s finance ministry last month issued its latest merchant-friendly announcement regarding payment cards, this one disclosing agreements with Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. for an average 10-basis-point reduction in credit card interchange for small and mid-size businesses to take effect in 2020. The Department of Finance Canada also said American …

The Department of Finance Canada on Thursday issued its latest merchant-friendly announcement regarding payment cards, this one disclosing agreements with Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. for an average 10-basis-point reduction in credit card interchange for small and mid-size businesses to take effect in 2020. The department also said American Express …

Sky-high abandonment rates, PayPal dominance, and a new online standard are pushing the major card networks toward a common buy button. But don’t look for that to emerge any time soon. When the major card networks in April started talking about what they called a common buy button for e-commerce, …

With each week that passes, the so-called unified buy button concept introduced by the major card networks last month takes on more definition, but despite all the discussion, the idea of an online checkout shared by multiple payment networks remains too vague—and too futuristic—to suit some expert observers. “I keep …

The U.S. is finally moving toward faster and more secure payments, but the process is far more deliberate than it needs to be. Look at Australia for an example of how it could be done better. Observers of the U.S. payments industry can be forgiven for wondering—in the wake of …

Data from 5 million stolen credit and debit cards is coming up for sale, and a cybersecurity firm says the cards were used at retailers Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and Saks’ off-price chain Saks Off Fifth. Many details about the breach remain unknown, including the extent to which …

(This is the first part of a two-part column. Part Two will appear next month.) From the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to the laboratories of Silicon Valley, innovation is the most important thing happening in payments today. We are re-inventing not only the technology of payments but …

With digital currencies booming in popularity over the past year or so, the security of the digital exchanges that convert users’ fiat money into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is coming into clearer focus—and the picture isn’t consistently pretty, according to a survey released this week. Some popular exchanges allow users to …

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business announced Monday an agreement with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Merchant Services that the trade group of small and medium-sized merchants says could bring cuts of nearly 50% for accepting American Express Co. cards to its 110,000 members. The Toronto-based CFIB said Chase, its …