The Fed will soon release its long-awaited report on faster payments. Will it help the U.S. catch up with other countries? They’ve been slow in coming, but faster electronic payments soon will be arriving in the U.S. The upside lies in the phrase “faster payments,” with various proposals calling for …

By Kevin Woodward Both QR codes and NFC have their backers and critics. But as mobile payments advance, which acceptance technology will own the future? Merchants and the payments industry alike are vying to encourage more consumers to use contactless payments as a way to displace cash, know more about …

Among the legacies of that explosion of financial regulation known as the Dodd-Frank Act is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was set up expressly to counter what was seen, in the wake of the financial meltdown of 2007-09, as the overweening power of banks and allied interests. The CFPB …

As mobile-wallet backers wrestle with the right mix of features and functions—loyalty, offers, and payments—to incentivize consumers and merchants to use their products, they should get accustomed to waiting. That was the word Thursday in Orlando, Fla., from speakers at the 2017 Payments Summit, sponsored by the Secure Technology Alliance. …

Merchant acquirer Square Inc. has again improved the speed of EMV transactions made with its contact chip card reader, lowering the speed from 4.2 seconds, as reported in November, to 3.6 seconds, as noted by Jack Dorsey, Square chief executive and chairman, in a Twitter post on Friday. Earlier in …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heightened the uncertainty surrounding crucial payment card rules and practices by refusing to hear an appeal of a lower-court decision last summer that threw out a $5.7 billion antitrust settlement. The top court’s decision will likely lead to years of continuing litigation and negotiation, …

• MoneyGram Inc. has entered into a confidentiality agreement with rival Euronet Worldwide Inc. to further consider Euronet’s unsolicited offer to acquire MoneyGram, which had previously entered into an agreement to be acquired by Ant Financial Services Group. • Merchant processor Total Merchant Services announced an expanded collection of application …

While independent sales organizations often say they want to compete on more than just price, pricing remains the main sales tool for many. But a growing number of ISOs and merchant acquirers are looking to add non-processing components to their product line-ups to attract and retain merchants. Several providers of …

Pundits have predicted the demise of the password for years, yet the simple user-name-and-password combination lives on, frustrating security pros and helping to fuel a spiraling epidemic of data breaches. The reason for the password’s longevity lies in its familiarity compared to newer, more effective authentication methods, says a report …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews The future of checkout, the role of the big payments networks, and merchants’ card-acceptance costs preoccupied a panel of mobile-payments executives assembled Tuesday to assess the current state and near-term future of the still-developing payment technology. With respect to how in-store users should check out on …