Leading payment processor First Data Corp. on Monday reported positive net income for the fourth quarter and all of 2016, a turnaround from losses for both periods a year earlier, but it’s still working to improve mediocre revenue growth in its merchant-acquiring business. Atlanta-based First Data posted net income of …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews An investigation by hotel operator InterContinental Hotels Group PLC found malware had been installed on servers that processed payment cards at restaurants and bars in 12 IHG-managed properties, the company said. And a federal appellate court told a lower court to investigate whether the class of customers …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Payments professionals who suspect fraud is getting significantly worse were confirmed in their suspicions Wednesday with a report indicating identity fraud hit an all-time high in 2016, affecting some 15.4 million U.S. consumers. That’s up nearly 18% from 2015 and represents a one-third increase from the …

Mastercard Inc.’s key operating and financial metrics all grew in the fourth quarter, and president and chief executive Ajay Banga on Tuesday said he expects them to continue growing despite the political turbulence created by President Donald Trump’s new administration. In the United States, total fourth-quarter credit and debit card …

Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. has agreed to offer a mobile point-of-sale platform from CardFlight Inc. The platform, called SwipeSimple, includes an EMV reader, a mobile app for iOS and Android, and a back-office reporting portal. New York-based CardFlight says the devices will be co-branded with Vantiv’s branding and will be …

Travel providers have new options for accommodating how consumers use their smart phones to pay for travel. Ticketing-software vendor Rambus Ecebs has introduced a set of products for mobile ticketing that rely on host card emulation to load smart cards into smart phones. Host card emulation enables download of payment credentials via …

Vending-payments specialist USA Technologies Inc. is integrating its MORE. loyalty platform into Apple Pay, the company announced Thursday. The deal is designed to induce more consumers to use Apple Pay at almost 300,000 vending machines that use USAT’s contactless payment technology and to encourage them to use the MORE. program. …

Since 2014, Visa Inc. has been tokenizing Visa-branded payment cards and Mastercard Inc. has been tokenizing Mastercard-branded cards, but neither network has had access to tokens for cards branded by the other network. Now, that’s about to change. Under an agreement announced last month by Visa and Mastercard, Visa will …

Acquirers are starting to leverage the power of massive—and diverse—pools of information. The challenge lies in unlocking big data’s full potential. Big data has been a hot topic for years as companies look for innovative ways to become more competitive, boost customer retention, and raise their bottom line. Now merchant …

The Federal Reserve released its latest triennial payments study Thursday morning, and it reports that the number of U.S. non-cash payments totaled 144 billion in 2015, up 5.3% annually from 2012. Debit and credit cards led in growth, while the automated clearing house network “grew modestly,” the Fed said. The …