Merchant Customer Exchange, the retailer-controlled mobile-payments network, took another step toward launch on Wednesday when it announced a deal with Paydiant Inc. to use the startup wallet provider’s technology at member merchant locations. Dallas-based MCX also said Wendy’s International LLC, the hamburger chain, and regional grocery chain Acme Fresh Market …

Up Solutions, the cloud-based point-of-sale division of United Merchant Services Inc., has set its Up Tab restaurant POS system at zero cost for resellers, the company announced today. Separately, Harbortouch has updated its POS Sales Center iPad app with new functions. Comprising an Android-based tablet, stand, printer, card reader, and …

Merchants are starting to accept the fast-rising digital currency, including big names like Overstock.com. But for now Bitcoin’s volatility and other issues may outweigh its advantages for merchants and acquirers. By Peter Lucas “In response to Bitcoin’s rise in popularity around the world, Zynga, with help from BitPay, is testing …

A new contactless payment scheme available from On Track Innovations Ltd. enables consumers to pay for fuel at the pump without removing their payment card from their wallets. n Currently, EasyFuel Plus is available in Europe and other international locations. OTI says plans to market it in the United States …

EMVCo., the international standards body for chip cards based on the EMV specification, is fast-tracking a specification for card-number tokenization in the wake of recently disclosed data breaches at major retailers, including the theft of card and other information on 110 million customers of Target Corp. The chip card organization …

Close to 60% of ISOs and other processors are reporting compliance rates of 40% or better among their portfolios of so-called Level 4 merchants, up about five percentage points from a year ago, according to a survey released by Atlanta-based security-solutions vendor ControlScan Inc. and the Merchant Acquirers’ Committee, a …

Target Corp. said on Tuesday that it passed its latest Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI) inspection a mere three months before confirming in December that a data breach compromised 40 million customers’ payment card numbers. Target also said it is fast-tracking its efforts to roll out chip card acceptance …

Merchants and financial institutions will find their information-protection practices under intense scrutiny this week in Washington, where no fewer than four Senate and House of Representatives hearings are scheduled in the wake of payment card data breaches at Target Corp., Neiman Marcus Group and other merchants. The sessions kick off …

Plastic: High Growth, High Risk More than ever, plastic dominates the business of electronic payments in the United States, with two-thirds of all noncash transactions in 2012 occurring on a card, up substantially from 60% just three years earlier. That’s according to the Federal Reserve System’s triennial payments study, released …

Jim Daly It’s been two-and-a-half years since a Visa plan marked the unofficial start of the conversion of U.S. card payments to the EMV chip card standard. Will recent data breaches speed up the conversion’s snail’s pace? While still a Congressman, current Chicago mayor and former White House chief of …