From the Oops Department: First Data Corp. early Thursday quickly removed from its Web site an inadvertently posted press release saying it had a deal to acquire independent sales organization BluePay Holdings Inc. “First Data confirmed that it is currently in discussions with BluePay with respect to a potential transaction, …

The Federal Reserve released the names of 27 payments-industry executives who will serve on a work group focused on developing a governance framework for faster payments in the United States. Fifty-five percent of U.S. credit and debit card spend is now on chip cards and 96% of the top 200 …

With Bitcoin trading at $4,300 and Ethereum at $300, most of the attention in the payments world has been on the cryptocurrencies’ value as an investment rather than as a payment method. Now, a year-old Toronto-based startup hopes to change that by enabling contactless point-of-sale transactions using Ether, the Ethereum …

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 …

Canadian pension-fund manager Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and private-equity firm Novacap said they would invest in Quebec-based Pivotal Payments, valuing the merchant processor at about C$525 million ($424 million), Pivotal Payments announced. Processor First Data Corp. introduced its “Disburse-to-Debit” service that pushes funds across debit networks so that businesses can …

First Tech Federal Credit Union has activated the Zelle person-to-person payment service in its mobile-banking app, which has 110,000 users. Puerto Rico-based payment processor Evertec Inc. said it will donate $1 million for relief efforts and that it continues to process ATM and point-of-sale transactions on the island, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria. …

For years, experts have predicted electronic payments would finally turn the check into an historical artifact. But data released last year indicate that the long-term decline in check volume has slowed, and now experts are trying to figure out why and what the ultimate check-killer will be. When the Federal …

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 …

The Faster Payments Task Force issued a final report in July with an eye-popping goal: National, real-time payments by 2020. Here’s a guide to the 16 providers that might just do the job. In July, the Federal Reserve-sponsored Faster Payments Task Force capped off two years of hard work with …

Prepaid specialist Green Dot Corp. released more details about its role in Apple Inc.’s upcoming person-to-person service in its Messages app.  Apple announced the new feature in June and is expected to make it available this fall with an update to its iOS software for iPhone and iPads. Pasadena, Calif.-based …