By Jane Adler   The payments industry has made great strides in the area of security, but malicious computer code is still an ever-evolving threat to processors and merchants.       For a restaurant manager, Gary Sipp knows a whole lot about malicious computer software, usually referred to …

  What with the Durbin Amendment taking effect and serious moves in mobile payments, many observers had the feeling that the pace of change in e-payments quickened in 2011. But along with faster change come more problems. Herewith some of the most salient.   By Jim Daly and John Stewart …

  By Karen Epper Hoffman   Next year may be the year of NFC. Then again, it may not be. In the meantime, a slew of startups have some alternatives to think about. Ever hear of Starbucks?       Near-field communication technology (NFC) may have taken a few strides …

  By Peter Lucas   Spam e-mail may be a constant irritant to consumers, but it’s big business for merchant acquirers willing to settle transactions resulting from those unsolicited ads. Can anything be done to stop it?       Every day some unsuspecting consumer receives an unsolicited e-mail from …

  So far, mobile-acceptance products for merchants have been limited to cards. Meanwhile, entrants in this market from outside the payments business tend to be long on tech but short on security. Both factors spell trouble, says Bill Clark.   The skyrocketing popularity of card-based mobile-payment solutions is certainly impressive, …

  By Karen Epper Hoffman   A fixture in online gaming, virtual currencies are moving into other digital markets and may break into the physical world. But will acceptance costs and regulatory concerns stymie their growth?       Virtual currency has long been seen as little more than the …

  As manufacturers scramble to develop tablet computers to challenge Apple Inc.’s dominant iPad, findings from an electronic-commerce services firm suggest payments companies looking for new transaction volume through mobile devices would be smart to do everything they can to encourage consumers to buy things on the iPad and its …

  n n n n n n

As Visa Inc. moves into the post Durbin-era, the debit card market leader plans to offer a fixed network participation fee and reduce its variable processing fee for Visa debit products in the United States. Executives expect the new fee structure will make Visa a more viable alternative to competing …

Security weaknesses have caused Hypercom Corp. to pull the plug on a software system that enables gateways and merchants using personal computers as virtual terminals to connect to payment-processing services. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Hypercom sent a notice on July 15 to users of its SmartPayments Savannah Server and related products that …