By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews If loyalty programs are the key to boosting usage of new payments methods like mobile wallets, ease of rewards redemption could be even more critical. On Wednesday, terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. took a step in that direction by expanding the reach of its Points Redemption …

• The U.S. Supreme Court seems divided over whether New York’s ban on credit card surcharges is a form of speech regulation as a group of merchants challenging the state’s anti-surcharge law assert, Reuters reported. The National Retail Federation said the case is about “being able to show the cost of using …

• Independent sales organization Applied Merchant Systems announced it has increased its liquidity following  an expansion of its credit line with Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group and Business Development Corporation of America. In conjunction, Blue Square Resolutions, also an ISO, became a shareholder in the company. • Miami-based NovoPayments, which processes payments throughout …

The 120-year-old automobile is getting a payments makeover. Automaker American Honda Motor Co. Inc. last week demonstrated an in-vehicle payments system for parking and paying for fuel at the 2017 CES, a consumer electronics exhibition in Las Vegas. Honda held the demonstration in conjunction with Visa Inc., Gilbarco Veeder-Root, which …

Founded in 1990 as the national trade group of independent sales organizations, the Electronic Transactions Association is taking on a decidedly technology-oriented hue as the payments industry rapidly evolves. The ETA announced last week that an Apple Inc. executive was elected to a two-year term on its board of directors, …

• The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a U.S. Department of Justice request to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel of the appellate court that, by reversing a lower-court ruling, allows American Express Co. to prevent its merchants from encouraging customers to use lower-cost forms of payment than …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews For the second time in less than two months, a major payments case is coming before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, lawyers for merchants and the state of New York will argue before the eight justices over whether the state’s ban on credit card surcharges constitutes illegal …

One of the most intense battles yet seen over card-acceptance costs is over. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced late Thursday it has ended its ban on Visa Inc. cards at 19 Canadian stores as of Friday. “We have come to an agreement with Visa which allows us to continue offering Visa …

Credit unions are making fast progress in their rollout of EMV chip cards, according to an update from PSCU, a major payments processor for this segment of the financial-services industry. Some 85% of PSCU’s clients have introduced, or are introducing, EMV credit cards, while the corresponding number for EMV debit …

U.S. online retail spending through home and work desktop computers in the 2016 holiday season totaled $63.1 billion, up 12% from $56.4 billion in 2015, Internet metrics firm comScore Inc. reported Thursday. “The 2016 online holiday shopping season had another successful year, with desktop growth rates in line with our …