AmEx Opts for Small Merchants No longer a card brand accepted mainly in hotels, restaurants, upscale stores, and on airlines, American Express Co. is stepping up its efforts to add small merchants to its acceptance base. AmEx late last year began testing a program called OptBlue that gives partner merchant …

Kevin Woodward Small-business owners want new technology that helps them grow their businesses. But they also want a sympathetic ear and a ready smile. How merchant sales has changed—and hasn’t changed. The small-business owner has been the bread-and-butter client for many independent sales organizations and acquirers, but in the midst …

Prepaid card program managers and issuers are moving beyond their original customer base and ramping up offerings, producing intense competition and falling prices. By Jane Adler Shopped at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. lately? A trip past the checkout lane reveals a robust array of new prepaid card offerings. For example, Wal-Mart’s …

Though it has attracted fervent enthusiasts, Bitcoin in the end offers less than meets the eye, says Eric Grover. For an electronic-payment system, the lack of central accountability is a flaw, not a feature. Eric Grover is principal at Intrepid Ventures, Minden, Nev. Reach him at eric.grover@intrepidventures.com. Bitcoin mania is …

  Loop, a mobile wallet that uses a case or fob to generate its own contactless field to communicate with many payment terminals, has launched for the latest iPhone models. The brainchild of payments veterans George Wallner, founder of point-of-sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp., now Equinox Payments LLC, and Will …

With Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. digging in their heels on a key chip card deadline, payments executives are expressing doubts that all U.S. small businesses will be ready. “The short answer is no,” says Henry Helgeson, chief executive of Merchant Warehouse, a Boston-based merchant processor. “We still have a …

Merchant Customer Exchange, the retailer-controlled mobile-payments network, took another step toward launch on Wednesday when it announced a deal with Paydiant Inc. to use the startup wallet provider’s technology at member merchant locations. Dallas-based MCX also said Wendy’s International LLC, the hamburger chain, and regional grocery chain Acme Fresh Market …

Merchants are starting to accept the fast-rising digital currency, including big names like Overstock.com. But for now Bitcoin’s volatility and other issues may outweigh its advantages for merchants and acquirers. By Peter Lucas “In response to Bitcoin’s rise in popularity around the world, Zynga, with help from BitPay, is testing …

Apple Inc. removed from its vast mobile-applications market called the App Store the Blockchain mobile wallet for accessing the Bitcoin virtual currency, an action Blockchain claims will leave no native Bitcoin options for users of Apple’s iOS mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad. Apple’s move quickly stirred protests …

A new contactless payment scheme available from On Track Innovations Ltd. enables consumers to pay for fuel at the pump without removing their payment card from their wallets. n Currently, EasyFuel Plus is available in Europe and other international locations. OTI says plans to market it in the United States …