The new mobile-payments network being developed by retailers went public on Wednesday with its name, Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, and the identities of 15 initial merchant-investors. But, five months after merchants first revealed plans to build an alternative to the major card networks as mobile payments take hold in …

Acculynk Inc., which on Wednesday announced it has signed up American Airlines Inc., says the recruitment of its largest merchant yet indicates stronger interest among online retailers in accepting PIN debit transactions. Indeed, Ashish Bahl, chairman and chief executive of the Atlanta-based company, tells Digital Transactions News it expects to …

The subject of vast amounts of hype, mobile payments are in fact becoming reality for many consumers. New findings from IDC Financial Insights show that 33.9% of consumers have made purchase on a mobile phone, up from only 19.3% in a similar survey last year. Mobile payments will further penetrate …

When PayPal Inc. announced last month that it plans soon to process transactions for people as they watch TV, it looked like just the latest foray by the c-commerce processor into yet another new market. After all, the San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc. unit has been pretty aggressive lately about …

Cybercriminals have introduced a new version of a notorious malware threat that is not only harder to detect but also more capable of stealing card numbers, PINs, and other sensitive information. This latest variant of the so-called Zeus Trojan malware includes a change that makes it virtually invisible to programs …

The Visa Debit train in Canada picked up speed this week when one of the country’s major banks, TD Canada Trust, introduced a debit card that uses the Visa network for card-not-present and international transactions. TD Canada Trust brings to three the number of Canadian banks offering Visa Debit since …

Facebook Inc. has just done the equivalent of dumping the euro in favor of national currencies with its new policy that will phase out the Facebook Credits virtual currency. The huge social network, which also is introducing a way to pay for subscriptions, says the changes will simplify the user …

The music and movie industries as well as retailers are next on startup Dynamics Inc.’s list of targeted industries for its ePlate loyalty application. Launched in April, ePlate embeds computer architecture into a credit card, enabling consumers to rewrite information from a choice of loyalty programs to the card’s magnetic …

American Express Co. extended the reach of its Serve digital and prepaid card platform with a rewards program it announced on Tuesday with leading online game developer Zynga Inc. The big prepaid card program manager Green Dot Corp., meanwhile, disclosed a distribution deal with Dollar Stores Inc. and the renewal …

Internet PIN-debit technology provider Acculynk Inc. this summer will start a pilot for a person-to-person payment system that will rely on PIN authentication and debit card network links for money movement. The Atlanta-based company has commitments for the project from between 20 and 30 financial institutions that use Acculynk for …