Facebook Inc. watchers have had their antennae sensitized for some time for any scrap of news that might indicate the massive social network’s tendencies in payments. The company’s Monday announcement that it has begun supporting carrier billing for digital goods sold on its platform appears to be no exception. Already, …

Merchant plaintiffs and the payment card network and bank defendants should return to the bargaining table and hammer out a new solution to the credit card interchange litigation for which they announced a proposed settlement July 13. That’s the conclusion of Aite Group LLC in releasing results of its recent …

The crowded mobile-payments space for small merchants just got more cramped as daily-deal leader Groupon Inc. announced its new Groupon Payments service for merchants using Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod touch devices to accept credit and debit cards. Groupon is coming in with low card-acceptance prices and aiming to leverage …

With the Isis mobile-payments venture having announced yet another delay, it remains unclear just what is causing the holdup and when the service will launch. And, say observers, time may be growing short for the venture, which is backed by three of the country’s largest wireless carriers. “I don’t know …

Two recent deals by startup Square Inc. indicate that the specialist in mobile payments for part-time sellers and tiny businesses is moving up the merchant ladder. In mid-August, San Francisco-based Square introduced a $275-per-month fixed pricing plan that may appeal to higher-volume, established small businesses. That announcement came shortly after …

Jane Adler With a growing array of digital wallets, retailers are testing multiple strategies—all at once. When it comes to digital wallets, retailers are like kids in a candy store. Lots of sweet offerings are on display. But instead of picking a favorite, some merchants take one of each to …

Steve Mott Financial institutions and retailers are natural allies—not enemies—and nowhere can this alliance yield more profitable results than in mobile payments. Here are five problems the two sides must solve to make the most of this great mobile alliance—along with five proposed solutions.(Editor’s note: This article is the second …

The prepaid card market closed in on half-a-trillion dollars in load volume last year, new data from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. show. Volumes on closed-loop cards grew 14% and loads on the newer open-loop cards increased 24%, according to Mercator’s ninth annual study of U.S. prepaid cards. In all, Maynard, …

The massive deal PayPal Inc. and Discover Financial Services announced on Wednesday that will bring online-payments leader PayPal to 7 million physical U.S. merchant locations has all the hallmarks of electronic payments in the 21st Century’s second decade, including digital wallets and cloud-based technology. But the foundation of the deal …

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 …