One advantage in providing merchant-acquiring services to 3.6 million U.S. locations is that First Data Corp. has a unique read on how major disasters such as hurricanes affect consumer spending. Statistics from the Atlanta-based processor show that spending spiked in the Miami area just before Hurricane Irma made landfall in …

Payroll-software provider Paychex Inc. introduced same-day debits processing on the automated clearing house. The new functionality allows employers to initiate corrections or reversals the same day the payroll is processed. Under ACH rules, same-day debits started Friday. Frost Bank introduced “Send Money with Zelle” on its Frost app. Zelle is a bank-controlled person-to-person payments network launched earlier …

Merchants that process with Vantiv Inc. will have a new option to receive their settlements within minutes in the FastAccess Funding program the processor and program partner Visa Inc. announced Thursday. Merchants typically receive their settlement funds via the automated clearing house, which may take one to three days. Instead …

In anticipation of an upcoming PCI Security Standards Council specification for enabling PIN-on-glass transactions with consumer mobile devices, MagicCube released MC-Screen Shield, a back-end technology to help secure the PIN. PIN-on-glass technology—in which the PIN is entered via a display instead of using a dedicated PIN pad—has been available for …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo peer-to-peer payment service has been a fabulously popular product among users, but from PayPal’s point of view it has one big problem: It’s free. Since users don’t pay for the service, PayPal has to seek Venmo revenue elsewhere. Now, with a test about to start for …

Q2 Holdings Inc., a provider of digital-banking solutions, launched CardSwap, an application that allows consumers to automatically switch credit or debit card information across their network of subscription and retail merchants. The first client to adopt the service is Chime, which provides branchless bank accounts. Because of Hurricane Irma, the PCI Security …

Bank-owned Early Warning Services LLC said its new Zelle person-to-person payment service processed 100 million transactions in 2017’s first half for payments totaling $33.6 billion. More than 50,000 consumers are enrolling daily in a network that could connect 86 million consumers through the mobile-banking apps of participating banks and credit unions, Early Warning …

Square Inc. will apply for a Utah industrial bank charter today, a move that will extend the merchant processor’s move into lending and one which could draw the opposition of banks. The bank will be capitalized with $56 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. The financial operation will be …

Francisco Partners, a private-equity fund, has made an investment in Network Merchants Inc., a provider of payments technology and gateways to merchants and independent sales organizations. The unspecified investment is said to be “substantial.” Consequent to the deal, existing investor Bregal Sagemount will exit, and existing investor Great Hill Partners will …

The number of EMV chip card-accepting U.S. merchant locations reached 2.3 million in June, up from 2.02 million in March and an increase of 77% from 1.3 million in June 2016, according to new figures from Visa Inc. Visa says in its latest EMV report that half of U.S. storefronts now …