Four computers containing Social Security and bank-account numbers for an estimated 2,200 individuals have been stolen from a California office of merchant processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc.’s payroll-processing division, Heartland reported Monday. Also on Monday the PCI Security Standards Council updated its rules governing payment card software. And in other …

With Google Inc.’s announcement of Android Pay Thursday, the first major direct rival to Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay came into focus. While other Apple Pay competitors are already in the market or soon will be—handset giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and the retailer-controlled Merchant Customer Exchange LLC are expected to …

Already found liable for its role in a telemarketing scheme that defrauded consumers, Universal Processing Services of Wisconsin LLC, doing business as Newtek Merchant Solutions, now will have to pay its share of a $1.7 million fine, a U.S. District Court judge ruled last week. The Federal Trade Commission in …

Google Inc. is betting its latest mobile payments incarnation—Android Pay—will work better than Google Wallet did. Announced Thursday at Google I/O, its developer conference, Android Pay is poised to compete directly against Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay, PayPal Inc., and the upcoming Samsung Pay for a piece of the burgeoning mobile-payments …

By John Stewart Few tactics lend instant credibility like adding heavy-hitter names to a company’s board. On Wednesday, the 5-year-old Bitcoin digital currency, and at least one startup offering Bitcoin wallets, gained a few notches on the credibility index when Xapo GmbH said Dee Hock, John Reed, and Lawrence Summers …

Carrying out business as usual is becoming harder to do as the payments business tries to adapt to new technologies. Asked at a recent San Francisco conference about what are the most disruptive trends in payments, 40% of industry professionals and alternative-finance executives polled cited the proliferation of mobile-wallet use …

In a time when consumers are using multiple ways—smart phones, tablets, stores, and Web sites—to shop, they are also using new ways to pay. Now, some are choosing to shop using Bitcoin, the best-known virtual currency. Some merchants, like Reeds Jewelers, accept Bitcoin primarily because customers want to use the …

Merchants, whether they sell online or in stores, consistently have one bugaboo about their payment-processing service: They want it to be cheaper. Online retailers, in particular, which pay higher card-not-present interchange rates, can use some simple practices to make a dent in these costs, as outlined this week in a …

Payments executives today are trying to assess the legacy of Benjamin Lawsky, New York State’s controversial top financial regulator who proposed the first regulations on virtual currencies. Lawsky, who became superintendent of the state’s Department of Financial Services in 2011, announced Wednesday that he plans to step down in June …

With the rapid spread of commerce on mobile devices, a key problem for merchants is getting customers to follow through with checkouts on tiny screens. PayPal Inc.’s answer to the problem is a solution that lets consumers check out with a single touch or click, and on Thursday it made …