After years of card-data breaches and other bad news, four very encouraging trends are emerging that bode well for better security. Here’s a quick look at all four: Integrators are taking the QIR program seriously. When the PCI Security Standards Council and Visa Inc. initially released the Qualified Integrator and …

Starbucks Corp. showcased it, and now more and more restaurants are adding mobile order-ahead and payment services in an effort to generate new business—and payments firms are only too happy to help them. “Restaurants and other retail merchants are realizing that mobile order ahead is a new sales channel with …

Payments providers have long recognized how extending credit can create consumer transactions where none would otherwise have occurred, but lately the idea of instant credit is gaining momentum. Companies like Klarna and Affirm have made a splash with on-the-spot credit for online purchases. Now, Austin, Texas-based Vyze Inc. is out to …

A survey of 500 small merchants that accept debit cards finds that 66% of them are satisfied with the fees they pay, says the Electronic Payments Coalition, a bank and network advocacy organization. Javelin Strategy & Research completed the survey, which the EPC sponsored. The findings are part of the …

Visa Inc.’s Visa Checkout online payment service now claims more than 20 million enrolled accounts, the payments giant announced Thursday. The service, which launched in July 2014, also added new merchants, among them major retailers and service companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its Sam’s Club unit, Avis Budget, and …

• In a bid to reach cash-only customers, Amazon.com Inc. launched Amazon Cash, a service that gives users a barcode they can store in their smart phone or print and bring to a participating store to add cash to their Amazon balance. Participating stores include CVS, Speedway, Kum & Go, and …

The Fed will soon release its long-awaited report on faster payments. Will it help the U.S. catch up with other countries? They’ve been slow in coming, but faster electronic payments soon will be arriving in the U.S. The upside lies in the phrase “faster payments,” with various proposals calling for …

By Kevin Woodward Both QR codes and NFC have their backers and critics. But as mobile payments advance, which acceptance technology will own the future? Merchants and the payments industry alike are vying to encourage more consumers to use contactless payments as a way to displace cash, know more about …

By Peter Lucas With three more years to comply with EMV, and with the cost of chip card acceptance weighing on their balance sheets, some petroleum marketers are talking about going mobile-only. ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Gulf Oil, Chevron. The list of oil companies rolling out or testing mobile-payment applications at …

Mobile-wallet providers just might have to buy some love if they want consumers to adopt their fledgling services. New findings from Auriemma Consulting Group based on research with 1,505 payment card holders eligible for mobile-payments programs show that transaction-based incentives are effective in building the frequency of mobile transactions and …