Ripple Labs announced the rollout of a real-time remittance service between Thailand and Japan, based on Ripple’s blockchain. The rollout follows what was said to be the first blockchain-based commercial money transfer across borders, which occurred in April between Spain and Mexico and involved Ripple’s technology. CryptoCoin Creations released its CryptoCoinTracker 2.1, an …

• The National Retail Federation announced that senior vice president and general counsel Mallory Duncan plans to retire at the end of August. Duncan joined the trade group in 1994 as general counsel and is a staunch advocate for merchants’ interests on payments issues. He plans to consult on payments and …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Apple Inc. is sponsoring its first known offers promotion for Apple Pay users with deals available June 23-25 in two San Francisco neighborhoods. Dubbed “Lose your wallet” on Apple’s Web site, the promotion includes a percentage off the purchase or a free item with a purchase. The …

• Cavendish Asset Management, the biggest investor in mobile-banking and payments technology provider Monitise plc, said it will vote against the planned buyout of Monitise by Fiserv Inc. because the U.S. financial-institution processor’s $89 million offer is too low, Reuters reported. • Fair Issac Corp. (FICO) released the FICO Card Compromise Manager, a service …

• Amazon.com Inc. introduced Prime Reload, a service that lets Amazon Prime members earn a 2% reward when they reload their Amazon Gift Card balance with a debit card. The reward is added to the gift card balance. Users must give Amazon their debit card, bank-account, and bank-routing numbers when they …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Payment technology provider VeriFone Systems Inc. reported Thursday that it plans to divest its line of products for taxicab payments and media services, and will take a minority interest in a joint venture that will own its current business in China. News of those developments came as …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews The number of data breaches tracked by the Identity Theft Resource Center in 2017 hit 698 as of May 30, a 35.3% increase over the record pace of a year ago when the ITRC flagged 516 breaches in 2016’s first five months. The San Diego-based nonprofit monitors …

For former Heartland Payment Systems Inc. chief executive Bob Carr, the next venture goes beyond simply making money. Carr led the $4.3 billion sale of his old company to Global Payments Inc. in April 2016. But rather than ride off into a comfortable retirement, Carr is back with his latest …

A willingness to listen, knowledge of the industry and of the merchant, and preparation are key to skirting a merchant’s rebuff reflex. It’s a universal sales-agent experience. The rebuff, deflection, or outright rejection from a merchant who, in her mind, is yet again hearing a sales rep talk about how …

By Kevin Woodward A willingness to listen, knowledge of the industry and of the merchant, and preparation are key to skirting a merchant’s rebuff reflex. It’s a universal sales-agent experience. The rebuff, deflection, or outright rejection from a merchant who, in her mind, is yet again hearing a sales rep …