Prepaid card specialist Green Dot Corp. has agreed to buy rival UniRush LLC in a deal valued at a minimum of $147 million and expected to close by the end of March. Pasadena, Calif.-based Green Dot, perhaps best known for managing Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s MoneyCard operation, said the deal will …

• Coffee giant Starbucks Corp. reported its Mobile Order and Pay feature, which allows customers to order and pay on their mobile phone and then pick up the order later without waiting, accounted for 7% of all transactions in U.S. company-operated stores in the fourth quarter, up from 3% a year earlier. …

One of the most intense battles yet seen over card-acceptance costs is over. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced late Thursday it has ended its ban on Visa Inc. cards at 19 Canadian stores as of Friday. “We have come to an agreement with Visa which allows us to continue offering Visa …

• Mobile in-store payments will total $91.7 billion by 2020, up from $18.7 billion this year, according to a report from Javelin Strategy & Research. Browser-based and in-app mobile payments, however, will dwarf that number, reaching $318.8 billion, nearly doubling 2016’s $161.3 billion. • Movie-ticketing platform Atom Tickets will integrate JPMorgan Chase & …

As gift cards continue to garner great consumer interest—they are the most sought-after gift this holiday season, says the National Retail Federation—two gift card providers announced moves to boost their respective market shares. In an exclusive deal, Atlanta-based InCommwill provide grocer cooperative Wakefern Food Corp. with a gift card and prepaid program. The …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews U.S. shoppers flooded into stores and online this past weekend—Macy’s Web site crashed on Black Friday from the crush—to find holiday gift deals, with many putting their chip cards to use, though e-commerce spending, where the fraud-prevention feature of the chip is immaterial, continues to increase. In …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Retailers can expect a bump upward in the dollars consumers load on closed-loop gift cards this holiday season as a festive spirit takes hold and more merchants favor the cards over holiday discounts, according to a forecast released Friday by payments consultancy Mercator Advisory Group. “Retailers …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Add Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to the list of merchants that will accept Chase Pay transactions. JPMorgan Chase & Co., backer of the nascent Chase Pay mobile wallet, says the massive retailer will begin accepting the bank’s payment service in more than 5,000 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews The ride-sharing service Uber is strongly associated with mobile apps, not with plastic. But prepaid card providers such as Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. are finding new opportunities in the so-called sharing economy exemplified by Uber, in which drivers using their own vehicles offer taxi-like services to riders. …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Nearly three-quarters of mobile-phone owners have made some sort of payment with their devices, but in-app, bill, and person-to-person payments all exceed in-store payments, according to new findings from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. The Annapolis, Md.-based consulting and research firm says 74% of mobile-phone-using consumers reported in …