By Jane Adler   Rightly or wrongly, lots of investors are mesmerized by the high-profile startup Square. But it’s not the only newbie transforming the payments industry as venture-capital firms scramble to find the next big idea.       Some startup companies get all the attention.   The …

  By John Stewart and Jim Daly   Having beaten the banks on debit card pricing, they’re now staking out positions on mobile payments and chip cards. This could be the start of the decade of the merchant in the business of consumer payments.       Who controls consumer …

  By Peter Lucas   Spam e-mail may be a constant irritant to consumers, but it’s big business for merchant acquirers willing to settle transactions resulting from those unsolicited ads. Can anything be done to stop it?       Every day some unsuspecting consumer receives an unsolicited e-mail from …

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North American sales were flat, but leading U.S. point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. still posted a 21% increase in revenues on the strength of its international business in the quarter ended July 31, and profits jumped 42%. Fresh from its August acquisition of long-time rival Hypercom Corp., VeriFone anticipates …

  What Keeps ATM Execs up at Night?       Complying with new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and fighting fraudsters who put skimmers on their machines rank high on the to-do lists of ATM managers.   The findings come in a new report from Aite Group LLC …

  Jim Daly   Merchant acquirers are keeping a watchful eye on the bank card networks as the publicly held companies seemingly move onto turf acquirers regard as their own. Are acquirers’ fears about network ambitions justified?       Moving transactions from merchant locations to cardholder accounts and back …

  John Stewart and Jim Daly   The Fed’s Durbin-inspired debit regulation is already radically reshaping the business for merchants, issuers, acquirers, and networks. Here’s how.       Well, it’s all over but the shouting. And, with the ink dry now for more than two months, there isn’t even …

  By Karen Epper Hoffman   A fixture in online gaming, virtual currencies are moving into other digital markets and may break into the physical world. But will acceptance costs and regulatory concerns stymie their growth?       Virtual currency has long been seen as little more than the …

  Startups and established companies alike are betting that consumers obsessed with daily deals could jump-start mobile payments. But it may take a while for that bet to pay off.   By Jane Adler       Rewards redemption with a mobile device at the point of sale isn’t a …