The national automated clearing house network enjoyed its second-strongest first-quarter performance in the past five years, with 3.8% transaction growth year-over-year, according to statistics released Monday by NACHA, the network’s administrative agency. n The new growth energy comes as the 40-year-old electronic payments network readies a proposal to speed up …

Law-enforcement agencies and government regulators may be skeptical of, if not outright hostile to, the Bitcoin virtual currency, but at least a few investors have a different attitude. Witness this week’s announcement by BitPay Inc., a processor that provides Bitcoin services to merchants. Atlanta-based BitPay said it had raised $30 …

Merchants that think payment services should leverage software, be simple to integrate, carry low or no fees, and include digital-currency choices have a champion in PayStand, a startup that emerged Tuesday from private beta with $1 million in funding and a promise of no transaction fees for online sellers. The …

Merchants are starting to accept the fast-rising digital currency, including big names like Overstock.com. But for now Bitcoin’s volatility and other issues may outweigh its advantages for merchants and acquirers. By Peter Lucas “In response to Bitcoin’s rise in popularity around the world, Zynga, with help from BitPay, is testing …

Jim Daly It’s been two-and-a-half years since a Visa plan marked the unofficial start of the conversion of U.S. card payments to the EMV chip card standard. Will recent data breaches speed up the conversion’s snail’s pace? While still a Congressman, current Chicago mayor and former White House chief of …

  With 20 months to go until a major liability shift associated with the migration of the U.S. payment system to chip card, independent sales organizations and acquirers should not wait to get themselves and their merchants ready for the October 2015 deadline, advised Leland S. Englebardt, group head of …

Global payment gateway provider Adyen processed more than $14 billion in global payments in 2013, a 40% increase from $10 billion in 2012, the company recently announced. n Mobile transactions in particular are growing for the Amsterdam-based company, and taking a larger share of overall transactions. Mobile payments accounted for …

The number of credit and debit cards compromised in 2013’s data breaches was on track by mid-December to be more than double the number of cards compromised in 2012, but then along came Target Corp.’s massive breach that exposed 40 million more. Thus, the Identity Theft Resource Center now estimates …

Karen Epper Hoffman After a major failure several years ago, biometrics is enjoying a renaissance in payments. As usual these days, mobile has a lot to do with it. So does the fear of fraud. Think of it as an authentication trinity—what you have, what you know, what you are. …

Linda Punch The Federal Trade Commission wants to outright ban four payment methods used by legitimate telemarketers and fraudsters alike. That would shut off a significant source of transactions for at least some merchant processors. Alternative payment methods such as remotely created checks have become increasingly popular over the past …