The slow death of paper checks showed up again in the latest quarterly statistics from NACHA, the regulatory body for the automated clearing house network. The ACH, which links virtually every financial institution in the country, allows banks and merchants to convert checks into electronic formats. But transaction volume on …

A lawsuit brought earlier this month by the Federal Trade Commission against a telemarketer and its merchant processor should serve as a warning to independent sales organizations and other acquirers that they could be held responsible for their clients’ actions, according to a prominent payments attorney. “The FTC’s suit should …

Linda Punch With law enforcement’s spotlight on Bitcoin and other digital currencies, a startup called BitMint hopes its approach will inject much-needed trust into the business. Developers of digital currencies are struggling to find the right mix of features to win over a mass market. One of the latest efforts …

Selling small businesses on mobile payments is an exercise in frustration, but signs of a breakthrough are appearing where the benefits are most obvious—restaurants, says Rick Berry. There is a lingering perception among the smaller business owners that mobile is out of their reach, too expensive, and too complicated to …

  IP Commerce Inc., a 9-year-old Denver-based company that provides platforms for independent software vendors (ISVs) and other payments developers, will discontinue its front-end payment-processing service effective June 30, according to a notice on the home page of the company’s Web site. The company began notifying clients earlier this month, …

A plan to expand its footprint in mobile payments by offering white-label applications to merchants is quickly paying dividends for LevelUp, the mobile-payments unit of Boston-based SCVNGR Inc. Washington D.C.-based Sweetgreen, a 17-location chain of organic salad shops, has become the first LevelUp merchant to roll out a branded mobile-payment …

The number of consumers buying stuff in stores using their mobile devices nearly tripled last year. But the Federal Reserve, which came up with that factoid, cautions mobile-payments enthusiasts not to whoop it up too much because the increase in mobile payors is not statistically significant. The Fed’s finding came …

Gideon Samid • gideon@BitMint.comWhen the news spread in 1914 that Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria had been assassinated in Sarajevo, few, if any, had the foresight to envision the colossal consequences that would spring from this single act. But this spark ignited a horrific chapter in world history: World War …

Elizabeth Whalen While the data are mixed about ACH fraud, what banks and companies can do to keep it under control is quite clear. Recent data give mixed signals about automated clearing house fraud as the number of ACH transactions and the number and types of ACH originators grows. A …

Mobile dominates this year’s Guide, as you’d expect, but so does the urge toward faster payments. Neither trend is going away any time soon. The obvious theme running through alternative payments nowadays is the predominance of mobile. Processors, solutions vendors, and startups alike are scrambling to make it possible to …