• Two merchant organizations have filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a U.S. Department of Justice filing that asks the full panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear a 6-year-old case alleging anti-steering rules established by American Express Co. are anti-competitive. A three-judge panel of that court ruled …

By Peter Lucas @DTPaymentNews Sweden-based e-commerce payments provider Klarna continues to expand its footprint in the United States by doubling its user base and adding new features to enhance the user experience. More than 2 million U.S. consumers now use Klarna’s streamlined checkout service, generating hundreds of millions of dollars …

• The Federal Reserve posted a notice that a payment network violates the debit card transaction-routing requirements in its rule implementing the Dodd-Frank Act’s Durbin Amendment if the network requires a merchant to allow a cardholder to choose an application that routes to only one network during an EMV debit card purchase. …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews Countless analysts have tried to diagnose what ails the lackluster U.S. mobile-wallet market, but new observations from securities rating agency Fitch Ratings Inc. succinctly identify three primary causes: a lack of compelling value propositions, an overcrowded market, and cyber-risk aversion on the part of consumers. “The vast …

• Rite Aid Corp. announced that American Express Co. cardholders now can use their Membership Rewards points for purchases at its drugstores. They also can use their Plenti points earned using the AmEx-backed coalition rewards service • Growth in consumer revolving credit cooled off to a 5.2% seasonally adjusted annualized rate in …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Retailers can expect a bump upward in the dollars consumers load on closed-loop gift cards this holiday season as a festive spirit takes hold and more merchants favor the cards over holiday discounts, according to a forecast released Friday by payments consultancy Mercator Advisory Group. “Retailers …

Even though payments processors have been working with application developers for years, independent software vendors (ISVs) still represent a major opportunity for acquirers and processors. It remains the case that 49% of ISVs do not integrate payments functionality into their systems, according to new research from First Annapolis Consulting, an …

By John Stewart@DTPaymentNews Bitcoin is on a tear again. The cryptocurrency has breached the $700 price barrier seven times out of the last nine days, according to data from Blockchain.info, and bids fair to remain above that level Tuesday. It was trading at $709 early in the day, according to …

• In yet another event related to payment card data security at hotels, Sentinel Hotel announced it is investigating an incident involving cards used at its front desks after receiving reports from some of its guests of unauthorized charges. • While 22% of consumers overall prefer to receive coupons through …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Card controls, a way to empower consumers to control when and where their credit and debit cards are used, are evolving. Viewed as one way to contend with the rampant data breaches fueling payment fraud, card controls are moving beyond the simple on-off switching capability of the …