Card-brand efforts to improve consumers’ perceptions of EMV transaction speeds took a step ahead this week when a grocer debuted updated EMV software on its point-of-sale systems. New Seasons Markets, including its New Leaf Community Markets unit, is now using the Quick Chip and M/Chip Fast technologies from Visa Inc. …

By Jim Daly @DTPaymentNews Square Inc. reported Wednesday that its payment volume grew 42% in the second quarter to $12.5 billion, and, while still reporting a loss, the merchant processor edged toward profitability as its adjusted revenues jumped 54%. Square, which began signing merchants in 2010, also raised its financial …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews A relatively new program geared at shoring up data security at small merchants is making progress toward a crucial January deadline, but not without some full-throated grumbling, if comments and questions at an industry trade show this week in Grapevine, Texas, were any indication. The program, …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Criminals stepped up their attacks on e-commerce sites in the second quarter, producing more than 69 million rejected transactions, a stunning 90% increase from the same quarter a year ago, according to the Q2 2016 Cybercrime report recently released by ThreatMetrix. Of these transactions, 23% were payments, …

It might be a cliché, but the saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same has some validity for merchant acquirers despite the rapid introduction of new technologies and the entrance of new competitors in recent years. For example, the top 10 U.S. merchant acquirers in …

• For its second quarter ended June 30, MoneyGram International Inc. reported transactions on its digital money transfer service grew 9% and accounted for 15% of all money-transfer transactions handled by the company. Revenue for the service increased 17% and accounted for 13% of overall money-transfer revenue. • Because of …

• Square Inc. introduced Scheduled Deposit, a service aimed at larger merchants, allowing them to set up regular daily deposits with accelerated access to funds. The service differs from Instant Deposit, a service Square introduced a year ago, in that deposits are automated and so don’t require manual entry by …

Apple Inc. is notoriously tightlipped about how its Apple Pay mobile-payments service is doing, and the occasion of the computing giant’s quarterly earnings call late Tuesday was no exception. Still, while Apple chief executive Tim Cook said little to satisfy widespread curiosity about the wallet’s adoption and usage among consumers, …

The U.S. migration to the EMV chip card standard continues to pay off for point-of-sale terminal maker Ingenico Group as the company reported a 14% increase in its North America revenue for the first six months of 2016. France-based Ingenico, in its earnings results released Tuesday, said it recorded 148 …

• Venmo, the peer-to-peer payment service from PayPal Holdings Inc., said all Venmo users now can use the service to make in-app purchases at participating merchants. Announced earlier this year, the in-app payment is available with 11 merchants. • Wireless transaction gateway Apriva said it has completed EMV certification for …