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 …

After decades of requiring specialized hardware, the payments industry is moving toward PIN entry on off-the-shelf mobile devices. What’s not to like? The payments industry is, if anything, ultra-conservative when it comes to new technology and transaction security. Take PIN pads, for example. For decades, the industry has required that …

Despite concerns that the federal government will crack down on state-sanctioned marijuana, a small band of payment providers is working to cash in on an exploding industry. It’s no wonder that legal marijuana merchants, and their banks, have been feeling of lot of angst in 2018. In only a matter …

It’s been a great run for credit cards—eight straight years of volume growth after a nasty reversal in the Great Recession. But what are the implications for acquirers’ bottom lines when this long growth spurt ends? Credit card issuers take delight when their cardholders spend freely, pay their bills on …

For years, the change in card credentials that occurs when issuers send out replacement plastic has caused heartburn for cardholders and merchants alike. New card numbers, expiration dates, or three-digit card-verification values can help thwart fraud when cards are lost or stolen, but they also wreak havoc with unaware merchants, …

After announcing a coming rebranding for its Android Pay mobile and online payment service in January, Alphabet Inc.’s Google subsidiary on Tuesday formally unveiled the new Google Pay. But the rebranding, centered on a new mobile app for Android devices, is a work in progress, with more changes and new …

First Data Corp.’s struggling merchant-acquiring joint ventures with three big banks are showing nascent signs of a turnaround, and business is booming in the company’s prepaid card unit, top executives reported Monday. The Atlanta-based processor reported last year that new merchant referrals from its big joint ventures with The PNC …

Consumers may be ready to pull back from using credit cards if a survey from Auriemma Consulting Group is correct. Only 14% plan to increase their borrowing on credit cards in 2018, compared with 28% who said so in 2017. “Increased spending around the holiday season is normally predictive of greater …

Artificial intelligence (AI) is so unsettling that we look the other way as it encroaches on the fundamentals of what it is to be human. Why do I say this? As AI is envisioned today, each of us humans will have his or her smart self, or “sself.” This sself …

Amazon long ago mastered e-commerce, and now its payments unit is making moves in physical stores and in voice commerce. Will it succeed here as it has online? In the fall of 2009, a certain big company in Seattle launched a service that let consumers authenticate themselves for online purchases …