Is MasterCard Inc.’s coming digital-wallet fee for online-payments providers such as PayPal Inc. a fair charge for systems that rely on the bank card networks to move their transactions, or a way for the established card networks to squeeze upstarts? That’s the gist of the debate that’s swept across the …

International expansion and broader distribution in the United States are among the major initiatives on tap for gift card and prepaid card seller and program manager Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. to grow its business, according a filing Blackhawk made this week in preparation for its planned initial public offering. Some …

Credit cards began staging a somewhat wobbly post-recession recovery in 2010 and 2011. But new figures from First Data Corp. and Visa Inc. indicate credit card charge volume is back to just about full health. In a mid-March investor presentation, Visa reported that U.S. credit card payment volume increased 11% …

Using a three-pronged technology play that includes enabling consumers to share merchant offers through social media, Boston-based SCVNGR Inc.’s mobile-payments unit LevelUp has added 500,000 new consumer users in just the past four months, bringing its total user base to 1 million. The strategy is part of a larger plan …

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday released another report on debit card revenues and expenses and says it does not plan to propose changes to its controversial debit regulations implementing the Durbin Amendment in 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act. Dodd-Frank requires the Fed to report on the debit card market every two …

By Holli Targan and Joel Alam Dealmaking is hot in the acquiring business just now, in many cases drawing buyers from outside the industry. But acquiring transactions isn’t like making widgets. Here’s a summary of key deal points both buyers and sellers should know. Mergers and acquisitions in the payments …

Elizabeth Whalen Durbin Amendment rules affecting prepaid card transaction routing take effect next month. Already, the regulations are raising thorny operational, legal, and strategic issues that could take months or more to resolve. It’s not over yet. There is still one more provision from the Durbin Amendment in 2010’s Dodd-Frank …

Jane Adler With the daily-deals goldmine close to played out, companies like Groupon are hoping to use payments to streamline redemptions and kick revenues into high gear. But how many followers will they have? In the minds of many consumers these days, the daily deal is so 2011. If you’re …

The acquiring business has entered an age of disruptive change, but it will emerge all the stronger for it, argues Eric Grover. While individual acquirers and independent sales organizations are fragile, acquiring as a whole is anti-fragile. Eric Grover is principal at Intrepid Ventures, Minden, Nev. Reach him at eric.grover@intrepidventures.com. …

Visa Inc. and banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Tuesday announced a 10-year partnership that promises to shake up the merchant-acquiring world by creating direct links between card issuers and merchants. Chase, which owns the nation’s second-largest acquirer, Chase Paymentech, is licensing a private version of Visa’s VisaNet transaction-processing …