Visa Inc. on Thursday cemented into place two more pieces of a developing strategy for what is rapidly turning into a hotly competitive market for mobile payments. The world’s largest card network announced it had struck an agreement with Monitise PLC, a U.K.-based provider of mobile services for financial …

Defenders of the debit card interchange status quo saw their last, best hope to delay draconian Federal Reserve regulations from taking effect go down to defeat Wednesday afternoon. An amendment in the U.S. Senate that would have delayed the Fed’s rules died on a 54-45 vote, six shy of the …

  Slow acceptance among merchants and consumers appears to be the underlying cause for Bling Nation’s decision to suspend operation of its PayConnect and FanConnect mobile services. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bling said earlier this week that it is pausing operations to retool its services in response to feedback from merchants …

  Three years after introducing a joint venture aimed at processing automated clearing house transactions between the two banks, Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. have abandoned the operation, which they called Pariter. “It will shut down over the next few weeks,” a Wells spokesperson tells Digital …

  n n n n n n n n n

  When news broke last month about a major card-data breach at Michaels Stores Inc., an arts-and-crafts chain, two things came to mind: 1) this type of fraud seems never to end, with Michael’s being just the latest in a long and somber line of retail and processor breaches; and …

  All Signs Point to Credit Cards’ Recovery   After getting KO’d in the recession, credit card usage is back on its feet. While card issuers are more cautious than they were a few years ago, consumers who have credit cards are using them more frequently, and they are spending …

  Linda Punch   So-called friendly fraud is hard to detect, hard to prove, and rising for some merchants. What are merchants, acquirers, and tech companies doing to reduce it?   It may be one of the most frustrating types of fraud encountered by a merchant. So-called friendly fraud—also known …

  Canada seems to have found a workable formula for rolling out EMV technology.   Can the U.S. learn from it?   By Peter Lucas   Payment card executives in the United States looking to follow a model for how to roll out EMV cards and terminals need look no …

  Jim Daly   The odds may be growing that Internet poker and possibly other forms of online gambling will become legal. That would mean new transaction and revenue opportunities for payment processors.   Just say the words “online gambling” to payments-industry executives, and most run for cover. Next to …