By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Mobile payments now account for 25% of transactions at Starbucks Corp.’s U.S. locations, up from 20% a year ago, but a recent 1% decline in transactions had Starbucks executives fielding questions from analysts Thursday about what caused the slippage. Nothing to worry about, folks, was the message …

• Mobile-commerce technology provider Sionic Mobile launched a mobile-payment and loyalty app called Style Rewards for hair salons. The app was introduced in collaboration with Style Media22, an interactive digital-media agency for salon professionals. • Mobile point-of-sale technology provider CardFlight agreed to offer its SwipeSimple EMV solution to merchant clients of …

Controversial from the start, the PCI Council faces a vastly changed security landscape from the one it confronted when it was born 10 years ago. Mobile payments, tokenization, and the growth of tech startups are new elements on the payments scene, but data breaches still abound, much as they did …

Two years after the launch of Apple Pay, here’s a look at Cupertino’s entry and at services from the other tech titans that have joined the mobile-payments game—and at how financial institutions are reacting. Of the three major third-party wallets, Apple Pay is now 2 years old while Alphabet Inc.’s …

Consumers may shop in stores more than they do online, but for most—93%—the research into these purchases is taking place online, finds a survey released Tuesday by Revel Systems, an iPad-based point-of-sale system provider. More consumers, 86%, shopping in person at least twice in the month proceeding the July survey …

• RYDE Technologies Inc. launched an overhauled version of its ride-hailing app RYDE, first launched last year to compete with Uber and Lyft. As with other such apps, RYDE processes payments in the background against a stored card, summons taxicabs and black cars rather than private vehicles. • The Bancorp Inc., …

• Early Warning Services LLC, a fraud-management company, announced an alliance with NuData Security that enables Early Warning to use behavioral analytics and risk assessment as part of its authentication platform. • Money-transfer revenue for MoneyGram International totaled $339.6 million for the third quarter, up 5% on a constant-currency basis …

• Financial-institution processor Fiserv Inc. said its payments segment posted adjusted revenues of $701 million in the third quarter, up 9% from $643 million a year earlier. Operating income rose 11.5% to $242 million. • Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced service changes in the U.S. and Mexico, and lower prices, involving …

• Visa Inc. and chip maker and software provider Intel Corp. announced a two-pronged security initiative, one of which aims to protect the growing Zelle person-to-person payments network, to which Fiserv is providing a link. Zelle is expected to launch early next year. • In related news, Fifth Third Bank …

• Visa Inc. announced five key person-to-person payment integrations for its Visa Direct faster-payments system, which requires Visa issuers to make funds available to cardholders within 30 minutes. These include: Jack Henry & Associates for JHA Payment Solutions, Fidelity National Information Services for its People Pay service, Stripe Inc. for …