Consumer use of mobile payments has taken a step back, according to new research from Auriemma Consulting Group. The New York City-based firm found that mobile-payments usage is down 5 percentage points to 25% of consumers surveyed from 30% a year ago. And that decline is expected to continue into …

Contactless payments got a big boost Wednesday when the New York City area’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a $539.5 million contract with San Diego-based Cubic Transportation Systems to install a near-field communication-based payment system across all MTA transit and commuter-rail systems that includes open-loop payments. The deal means MTA riders …

A Cincinnati-based startup called LISNR is promoting technology that transmits payment data over sound waves. The technology, which the company demonstrated Tuesday at the Money 20/20 financial-technology conference in Las Vegas, is now open for beta and can be used as an alternative to near-field communication, the company said. It …

The Western Union Co. early next year will start allowing money transfers via Mastercard Send, a service that allows people to send money within seconds from a debit card to another person’s debit card, including non-Mastercard cards. Senders can also fund transfers with credit cards or bank accounts, but must …

Private-equity firm GTCR, which bought Sage Payment Solutions in August from its British parent company The Sage Group plc, appointed veteran independent sales organization executive Joe Kaplan as chief executive of the merchant processor, and also announced that it would invest $350 million to support Sage. Kaplan is the former …

NCR Corp. is entering the fray to get payment-processing deals with micromerchants. The Duluth, Ga.-based point-of-sale technology company this week launched Ring Up by NCR Silver, a POS service specifically designed for merchants with less than $100,000 in annual revenue. The service uses a magnetic stripe and EMV-compatible Bluetooth reader …

The segment could play a key role in expanding electronic payments as fewer consumers carry cash. Factors ranging from payments to technology companies to changing consumer behavior are heightening attention to unattended payments. While electronic payment acceptance in this space, which includes vending machines, parking garages, and car washes, has …

Europe’s new payments regulation promises much, including free transactions. But do banks need to be forced to do what’s in the best interests of customers and shareholders? The European Union’s revised payment-services directive (PSD2) changes rules governing payments and is intended to, and inevitably will, impact the roles and economics …

The foundational technology for contactless credit cards has existed for some time, but we haven’t seen them adopted en masse yet, at least not Stateside. Much of that reluctance has to do with perceived obstacles or assumptions—perceptions that may or may not be entirely accurate. Following are objective responses to …

Independent sales organization Merchant Consulting Group Inc. said its payments services are now available in the Tracker Management Systems dispatch software designed for the towing and wrecker industry. BMO Harris introduced Small Business Mastercard, which works with the Masterpass, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay digital wallets. Now that Apple Inc.’s new …