• A consumer class-action lawsuit filed by the United Kingdom government’s former financial-services ombudsman against MasterCard Inc. seeks 14 billion pounds ($18.6 billion) in damages for allegedly charging excessive merchant fees between 1992 and 2008, expenses merchants passed on to consumers. In a statement, MasterCard said it “firmly” disagrees with …

• Apple Inc. said it is bringing its Apple Pay mobile-payments service to Japan with its new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus smart phones, and Apple Watch Series 2. Apple Pay will work with Japan’s variant of near-field communication (NFC) contactless technology known as FeliCa. • The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial …

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it is now supporting Alphabet Inc.’s Android Pay mobile-payment service. Chase, which is in the process of launching its own mobile wallet, Chase Pay, has issued more than 90 million Visa cards. • In related news, Alphabet’s Google unit said it is making Android Pay …

• Noble House Hotels & Resorts, which earlier said it had been notified by the U.S. Secret Service about a possible card-data breach at its Ocean Key Resort & Spa, said it has found through an investigation that card data may have been compromised at 11 other hotels, restaurants, and …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Nearly three-quarters of mobile-phone owners have made some sort of payment with their devices, but in-app, bill, and person-to-person payments all exceed in-store payments, according to new findings from First Annapolis Consulting Inc. The Annapolis, Md.-based consulting and research firm says 74% of mobile-phone-using consumers reported in …

• Hotel operator Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants said its point-of-sale system at several of its properties was breached earlier this year, from Feb. 16 through July 7. Kimpton began its investigation after receiving a report on July 15 of unauthorized charges after consumers used their cards at the restaurant in …

Worldpay, WePay, and Stripe are among those viewed as attractive targets as the industry consolidates. Apparently, investors are not ready to put away their checkbooks when it comes to payments companies. Despite potential macro uncertainty stemming from the U.S. presidential election and the specter of the United Kingdom’s departure from …

As I start working on this month’s column, three news stories are flickering on my screen. One is about major banks using blockchain technology to move non-monetary, high-value, high-security documents and intellectual property. The second article is about more major retail chains piling on to sue MasterCard and Visa over …

• Shift4 Corp. announced it is among the first payment gateways to introduce a software update to support the various quick-chip solutions from the major payment brands for faster EMV chip card transactions. • Uber and Visa Inc. launched Uber Local Offers, a program that enables Uber riders to earn …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews A vital measure of the U.S. payment card industry’s migration to EMV chip transactions is advancing smartly for mobile point-of-sale provider CardFlight Inc. New York-based CardFlight says 46% of the transactions processed via its gateway in June were made with chip cards using EMV readers. That’s an …