The key to success is to understand that small merchants are really more like consumers than like businesses, and act accordingly, says Adil Moussa. The acquiring industry keeps acting like it is in the business-to-business field. The result is their messages to small merchants are missing the mark. Adil Moussa …

At first glance, it looks like a lopsided collaboration between competitors, but the agreement by which mobile point-of-sale upstart Square Inc. will integrate Intuit Inc.’s popular QuickBooks accounting software may end up benefiting both parties equally, some observers say. Under the deal, announced on Tuesday, users of the Square Register …

Google Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a new mobile app for its Google Wallet that emphasizes the wallet’s loyalty and person-to-person payments features that in the past had taken a back seat to its point-of-sale payment capability based on near-field communication (NFC) technology. The app is now available to all smart …

Lauri GiesenDespite years of effort by ISOs and acquirers, most small merchants still fail to meet the PCI security standards. But there are signs of hope. If you look at the big picture, progress by independent sales organizations and other merchant acquirers in getting small merchants into compliance with the …

By Jim Daly and John Stewart A judge says the Federal Reserve Board failed to carry out Congress’s will for debit cards when it wrote its rules implementing the Durbin Amendment. Now what? Most businesses dislike government regulations. But they really hate situations where a regulation gets upended, the result …

A judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday gave the Federal Reserve Board a week to indicate its position about a possible interim rule for implementing the Durbin Amendment, the part of 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act that regulates debit cards, after ruling late last month that the Fed’s current regulations do not …

More than 18 months after acquiring Point, a Sweden-based provider of payment gateway solutions to merchants, point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. announced Monday that it will roll out the service to U.S. merchants beginning this fall. VeriFone intends to offer Point as a managed service through independent sales organizations …

A controversy over paying lower-wage workers with payroll cards could threaten the growth of one of the fastest-expanding prepaid card markets, observers say. A lawsuit filed by a former McDonald’s Corp. restaurant worker in Pennsylvania who was paid via payroll card has attracted attention from federal authorities and triggered an …

Karen Epper Hoffman PINless debit card transactions are gaining favor as online merchants latch onto this speedy payment alternative. But will PINless debit’s rise give debit networks much of a boost in the short term? Call it PINless debit version 2.0. The ability to make a payment with a debit …

A lawsuit brought earlier this month by the Federal Trade Commission against a telemarketer and its merchant processor should serve as a warning to independent sales organizations and other acquirers that they could be held responsible for their clients’ actions, according to a prominent payments attorney. “The FTC’s suit should …