Through the years, the network game hasn’t changed. Payment systems need volume, and that means interoperability with other networks. The key is to be smart about it. The payments world is a patchwork of overlapping and interdependent networks. For success, networks need a path or paths to critical mass. For …

Processors and acquirers are chasing integrated payments while also serving traditional, terminal-based merchants. Can they keep their balance? The biggest buzzword in payments today is “integrated.” While such payments—exemplified by point-of-sale software with an add-on payments capability that is supposed to be seamless to the user and the consumer—are not …

Speed is of the essence in e-commerce, which is why a recent report is welcome news for gateway providers. Omaha, Neb.-based research and consulting firm The Strawhecker Group says U.S. gateway operators have cut the average transaction time in half, to 1.6 seconds from 3.2 seconds only a year ago. …

A new micropayment platform called Qoins has just closed a first round of funding for $1 million. The app allows users to pay off debt by rounding up purchases to the nearest dollar and sending the excess to the creditor, with a focus on credit card and student debt. Qoins …

Payment gateway USAePay completed EMV certification for First Data Corp.’s Rapid Connect platform. USAePay said the certification enables merchants to accept EMV payments, particularly EMV PIN-debit transactions, via its mobile application. First Data Corp. launched a service for card issuers called FirstSense that combines threat intelligence with the company’s fraud-detection …

It’s another go-around for contactless payments as Visa Inc. prepares an extensive campaign involving issuers, merchants, and consumers to push use of the payment method. The card brand on Tuesday debuted an infographic on contactless payments from across the globe, and touted the preparedness of the U.S. market for the …

Paycosmos, a provider of virtual and point-of-sale terminals, has teamed with payments provider linked2pay to launch “ISO in a Box,” a platform that offers sales agents support with acquiring and underwriting merchants and help with payments technology. Cashierless technology like that of Amazon Go will account for $45 billion in …

For years, PayPal Holdings Inc. has worked to expand its reach to physical merchants, and now, with the closing on Thursday of its $2.2 billion acquisition of Stockholm-based iZettle AB, the digital-payments company is taking a significant step in achieving that ambition. At a stroke, the acquisition brings to PayPal …

With rumors circulating that Amazon.com Inc. is interested in getting into banking and also preparing to open thousands more cashier-less stores, new research results released by management-consulting firm Bain & Co. claim that a large pool of consumers would be willing to bank with the online retailing giant. “Our survey …

When you flip over your debit card or go to an ATM, you see logos for companies like Shazam, First Data’s Star Network and others, but you may not think about the role these processors play in the payments system. As one of those processors, we simplify the connections that …