By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Merchant trade groups have kept up a steady drumbeat this year in support of the Dodd-Frank Act’s Durbin Amendment with its debit card regulations. But, with Republicans taking full control of the federal government in January, the drumbeat got louder Tuesday when 627 large and small merchants …

• Gift cards were the most sought-after gifts among consumers queried for a survey about the upcoming holiday season and sponsored by the National Retail Federation; 61% of respondents reported wanting a gift card, followed by clothing and accessories, 54%; and books, CDs, DVDs or videos, 40%. • Merchant processor …

• Citigroup Inc. became the latest bank to introduce a proprietary mobile wallet, in this case Citi Pay, which will launch later this year in Singapore, Australia, and Mexico, and in the U.S. early next year. Working with MasterCard Inc.’s Masterpass digital-payments service, Citi Pay provides online and in-app payment capability, …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews In a move that will further consolidate the U.S. acquiring business, payment processor Vantiv Inc. announced late Thursday that it has an agreement to buy Moneris Solutions Corp.’s U.S. merchant-acquiring subsidiary from its Canadian owners for $425 million in cash.  Also known as Moneris USA, Schaumburg, Ill.-based …

• Payments-technology vendor Cardtek announced its Digital Enablement Platform for wearables payments. The platform relies on wearables chips from NXP Semiconductors and is aimed at integrating payment cards, transit tickets, and other services in wearable devices. Cardtek cites research from CCS Insight indicating there will be 411 million wearable devices …

• Payment security technology provider MagTek Inc. and Payment Alliance International (PAI), an ATM independent sales organization and processor, said PAI now supports MagTek’s QwickCodes system for cardless transactions and will deploy it across its nationwide network of more than 74,000 ATMs. • Entertainment operator Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said mobile-ticket …

By Jim Daly@DTPayment News First Data Corp. said attrition in its small and mid-size North American merchant portfolio eased off in the third quarter, but chief executive Frank Bisignano cautioned that getting attrition down to acceptable levels will take more time. “Q3 saw a meaningful reduction in the annualized attrition …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Card controls, a way to empower consumers to control when and where their credit and debit cards are used, are evolving. Viewed as one way to contend with the rampant data breaches fueling payment fraud, card controls are moving beyond the simple on-off switching capability of the …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Debit card transactions with PIN authentication have historically been seen as the most secure form of payment available, but lately some experts have had cause to wonder. In fact, while credit card fraud losses are declining, losses on PIN debit transactions for payment and at ATMs …

• Mobile-commerce technology provider Sionic Mobile launched a mobile-payment and loyalty app called Style Rewards for hair salons. The app was introduced in collaboration with Style Media22, an interactive digital-media agency for salon professionals. • Mobile point-of-sale technology provider CardFlight agreed to offer its SwipeSimple EMV solution to merchant clients of …