QualPay, a provider of cloud-based, integrated-payments solutions, launched a developer portal allowing integrators to evaluate and deploy payment services. Person-to-person payments by users of services offered by community banks and credit unions average $450, compared to $25 for users of Venmo, a popular third-party app, according to data from Malauzai Software, …

The political coroner has made an official pronouncement: Operation Choke Point is dead. The controversial program begun in 2013 by the U.S. Department of Justice during the administration of President Barack Obama aimed to deny payment services to fraudulent telemarketers, payday lenders, and other suspect merchants. It generated massive controversy for …

There’s some good news for U.S. debit card issuers in the form of reduced fraud rates, according to the 2017 Debit Issuer Study released Monday by Pulse, the electronic funds transfer network owned by Discover Financial Services. The fraud-loss rate for signature-debit transactions fell 30% from 2015’s 2.6 cents per …

Smaller retailers haven’t yet closed the EMV-acceptance gap with big ones, but they are making progress on installing EMV chip card readers at the point of sale, according to findings from a recent survey for the National Retail Federation. The online poll found that 60% of small brick-and-mortar retailers had …

Consumer revolving credit outstandings, most of which are credit card debt, hit a record $1.02 trillion in June, the Federal Reserve reported this week. The new high is 0.1% higher than the old record set in April 2008, just as the financial crisis of 2008-09 was gathering steam. Relying on leaked …

The estimated number of U.S. ATMs—including those deployed by financial institutions and independent operators, and branded machines—increased 10.5% to at least 475,000 and as many as 500,000, the ATM Industry Association said this week. The previous estimate, released in 2015, was 430,000, says David Tente, ATMIA’s executive director for the …

Mobile point-of-sale services provider CardFlight Inc. announced that payments provider Central Payment will offer CardFlight’s SwipeSimple mPOS reader to merchants. Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) said home-improvement retailer Lowe’s will use FIS’s BizNOW prepaid service—labeled as Lowe’s PreLoad—to enable contractors to automate their purchasing activities, eliminating the need for their employees to …

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 …

Declining use of cash at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has prompted the Atlanta City Council to re-bid a contract for banking services at the world’s busiest airport after only one bank, SunTrust, responded to the original proposal, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The incumbent, Wells Fargo, claims ATM revenues have declined and that its …

Worldpay has asked for second extension, this time to Aug. 11 after a first one to Aug. 8, of a British regulatory deadline as Worldpay and Vantiv Inc. executives put the finishing touches on Vantiv’s proposed $9.9 billion buyout offer for the London-based merchant acquirer. Reuters reported that the companies expect to announce a final …