Peter Lucas With big banks like Chase and Citibank aggressively promoting remote deposit capture, consumer demand for the product is skyrocketing. As a result, more and more banks are using it as a tool to acquire and keep customers. It’s been a long time since banks have had a customer-acquisition …

In an effort to bring some order to the Wild West of person-to-person payments over the automated clearing house network, ACH governing body NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association is proposing a new credit version of its WEB code for online person-to-person payments that would include standardized formatting for the transactions. Herndon, …

With the influence of smart phones on in-store sales outpacing their influence on online sales, San Francisco-based Zappli Inc. is seeking to remedy that disparity through the introduction of InstaBuy, a mobile-checkout application that enables consumers to make a purchase through their smart phone in two clicks. Merchants can deploy …

When PayPal Inc. announced last month that it plans soon to process transactions for people as they watch TV, it looked like just the latest foray by the c-commerce processor into yet another new market. After all, the San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc. unit has been pretty aggressive lately about …

Linda Punch A consensus is forming that regulations specific to mobile payments are coming, but questions about when, who will be involved, and exactly what issues they’ll address are far from settled. With mobile payments increasingly capturing headlines and consumers’ imaginations, can the attention of lawmakers and regulators be far …

Peter Lucas Time was, mobile payments was mostly talk. No more. Now, with new features, pricing, and promotion, some providers are pumping out real transaction volume. For months, payments executives have been reading about digital wallets and acceptance applications from some of the biggest names in the business, including Visa …

Groupon Inc. redoubled its efforts to penetrate the point-of-sale market with its acquisition of New York City-based software startup Breadcrumb, whose product lets restaurants run transactions on iPad tablets. The deal, announced on Tuesday, follows news that the Chicago-based daily-deal giant is testing a mobile-acceptance service in and around San …

Quick—which of these five common financial products was the only one to grow last year: credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, checking accounts, or personal savings accounts? If you answered “prepaid cards,” give yourself a gold star. New research from Javelin Strategy & Research says fewer consumers in 2011 reported …

Linda Punch When data breaches happen, fingers often point instinctively to shadowy hackers in distant lands. But the real culprits often are inside the office. Security experts say preventative measures must include better screening and monitoring of employees. When data breaches hit the headlines, the instigators typically are portrayed as …

Annual Field Guide to Alternative Payments You’ll need a fair amount of memory on your hard drive to keep track of all the comings and goings in the bubbling world of alternative payments. By now, our Field Guide to Alternative Payments needs no introduction. It’s one of our most popular …