By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Chase Pay, the nascent mobile-payments service from banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co., has added two more merchants to its roster. HMSHost, a Bethesda, Md.-based dining-services company specializing in transportation locations, and Parkmobile LLC, an Atlanta-based parking company, will begin accepting order-ahead capability based on functionality developed …

• Independent sales organization BluePay Processing LLC announced its purchase of the merchant-services portfolio of VersaPay Corp., a business-to-business payments provider. Terms were not disclosed. • Merchant processor Total Merchant Services introduced Groovv mPOS, a mobile point-of-sale device enabling EMV and NFC contactless payments, as well as online transactions. The device links to smart …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews PayPal Holdings Inc. on Wednesday announced updates to its user agreements for consumers and merchants, and among the numerous changes are 0.5% price increases for several types of transactions involving U.S. sellers and foreign buyers. Beyond the price hikes, other changes include a new non-discrimination clause for …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews One-third of the payments that consumers made using Pay with Amazon in 2016 were on a mobile device, e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. revealed Tuesday. Pay with Amazon enables consumers to use their Amazon wallets to pay for merchandise on other retailer’s Web sites. In a rare release …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews The new Republican-controlled Congress and Republican President Donald Trump want fewer government regulations, and the politically vulnerable now that Republicans have full control of Washington. Republicans say the CFPB has imposed excessive regulations on the financial-services industry and that its director, currently Richard Cordray, is not accountable …

• Processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) reported its revenue grew 30.4% in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, to $2.4 billion, from $1.9 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Net earnings from continuing operations increased to $207 million from $105 million. For the year, revenue jumped 40.1%, to …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews An investigation by hotel operator InterContinental Hotels Group PLC found malware had been installed on servers that processed payment cards at restaurants and bars in 12 IHG-managed properties, the company said. And a federal appellate court told a lower court to investigate whether the class of customers …

• Payment gateway USAePay launched a browser-based EMV application the enables merchants to accept credit and debit chip card payments. • Pizza Inn has launched a rewards app offering points to customers who order through the company’s Web site. The app was developed by marketing-services firm Punchh. • Sweden-based e-commerce-payments provider Klarna said it is buying …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Bitcoin may be commanding higher prices these days, but the flow of investment cash pouring into Bitcoin and blockchain startups is slowing down. Global funding totaled $550 million last year, up just 5% from 2015, while the number of deals slipped from 161 to 132, according …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Ever since Ant Financial Financial Services Group let it be known in October that it is working with key payments players like VeriFone Systems Inc. and First Data Corp. to bring its Alipay mobile-payments service to North America, the industry has wondered about the Chinese company’s …