Many small merchants have never heard of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, let alone taken steps to comply with its rules. That’s a big problem that acquirers are in the best position to fix. By Lauri Giesen The formation of the PCI Security Standards Council and the related security …

Payment card transaction-processing technology developer VeriFone Systems Inc. is betting that consumers might want to play the lottery while they’re semi-idle gassing up their cars or moving around town in a taxicab. The leading point-of-sale terminal maker said on Wednesday that it would test sales of state lottery tickets by …

The Isis mobile wallet, set for release in two U.S. cities this summer, will feature a prepaid card with cash already loaded and a capability to “follow” participating merchants to receive coupons and other offers. The broad outlines of how the wallet will work were disclosed on Wednesday as Isis …

  The bank card networks will introduce new fees for merchant acquirers in April, according to information obtained by Digital Transactions News. The most significant fee is Visa Inc.’s new Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF), a key component of a revamped pricing strategy the No. 1 payment card network announced …

The war of words between the payments industry on the one side and retailers on the other side continued this week when a lobbying group backed by big banks and payment card networks released survey results claiming that only a tiny fraction of consumers believe retailers are passing on their …

Mocapay Inc., one of the earliest startups in the mobile-payments space, finally is poised to go national with new partners, a different pricing model, and a broadened set of technological options that its president says makes payments by smart phone easier for merchants and consumers. Mocapay launched in 2006 and …

Google Inc. late on Tuesday announced a solution for a security flaw in its mobile wallet that allows hackers to gain access to wallet owners’ prepaid accounts. Google also said it had, on Monday afternoon, restored the ability to load funds on new prepaid cards. In response to the flaw, …

n A payments executive for Sinclair Oil outlines her frustrations with data security—and argues for a major upgrade to EMV. by Trinette Huber We’ve all been hearing a lot about EMV, or chip card technology, lately as some banks and merchants actually issue chip cards and install the terminals that …

With m-commerce shifting into high gear, consumers are expecting a faster, user-friendlier checkout experience. Delivering that kind of experience won’t come from advances in handset hardware, but software. by Peter Lucas In the world of mobile commerce less is more, especially when it comes to checkout. Savvy merchants learned years …

  n San Francisco-based Square posted a notice for a “Square U Representative” position last month on its Web site and has put out reminders about it this month through Twitter as well as a feature story about it on its Facebook page. The job posting indicates the position is …