International expansion and broader distribution in the United States are among the major initiatives on tap for gift card and prepaid card seller and program manager Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. to grow its business, according a filing Blackhawk made this week in preparation for its planned initial public offering. Some …

  With help from Discover Financial Services, regional electronic funds transfer networks this week took a major step toward ending a dilemma over how merchants can route PIN-debit transactions made on chip cards through EFT networks and still meet the Durbin Amendment’s transaction-routing requirements. Previously, the main routes available for …

Mike Duffy, president and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Paymentech merchant-acquiring subsidiary and one of the acquiring industry’s most prominent figures, died Thursday after a long illness. “It is difficult to put into words how much Mike will be missed,” said Gordon Smith, chief executive of Chase …

E-commerce, better malware, and mobile devices are on the minds of fraudsters, according to Trustwave Holdings Inc.’s latest annual data-breach study. Chicago-based Trustwave, a leading data-forensics investigator and security vendor, based its report on 450 data breaches it investigated last year around the world. Hackers targeted payment card data in …

George Peabody From financial institutions to card networks to mobile carriers, a fixation on payments has dimmed the once-bright prospects for near-field communication technology. Wences Casares, founder of Bling Nation and Lemon.com, once said of near-field communication, “NFC is a great technology. But it was abducted by payments, and hasn’t …

  The PCI Security Standards Council on Thursday released yet another set of data-protection guidelines for mobile payments, this one aimed at merchants using smart phones and tablet computers to accept credit and debit cards. Although it touches on many points, the guidance especially focuses on the software running on …

  Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday said it will jump into the digital-currency market with Amazon Coins, a payment product it will roll out in May on for its popular tablet, the Kindle Fire. Users of the device will be able to redeem the new currency on the Amazon Appstore, which …

Peter Lucas The card networks’ gambit to rapidly accelerate EMV terminal rollout by waiving PCI compliance reporting for merchants is falling short. Sometimes what looks to be a great deal is not all it’s cracked up to be. Offers by the payment card networks to accelerate the U.S. deployment of …

Mobile bill payments took a step forward Thursday when automated clearing house network overseer NACHA reported that its Council for Electronic Billing and Payment (CEBP) had developed final guidelines for consumers to use Quick Response (QR) codes on bills to facilitate electronic payments. The guidelines are voluntary for billers, banks …

A sweeping review by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City of the Durbin Amendment’s effects warns that competition could be harmed if more payment card networks adopt fixed-pricing plans as they compete for merchant business in the newly regulated debit card environment. The new report is the first of …