Competitive Strategies

• Canada-based Mobeewave is making its PayMeTap mobile peer-to-peer app available to consumers across Canada. The free app had been in testing. The Android app enables consumers to accept a payment by tapping a phone with a contactless credit card.   • Payments company BillingTree Inc. launched the Payrazr Marketplace, …

The automated clearing house network reported stepped-up transaction volume with each set of quarterly statistics it released last year, and on Thursday it confirmed officially that 2015 was a banner year for growth. The payments network, which connects virtually every financial institution in the country, handled more than 24 billion …

Mobile payment and marketing provider LevelUp is continuing its fight against a rival over an alleged patent infringement and the New York Attorney General has filed suit against Northern Leasing Systems Inc. alleging deceptive business practices. In 2015, Boston-based LevelUp’s parent company, SCVNGR Inc., filed suit in U.S. District Court …

When it comes to mobile-payments services like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, the payments industry appears to be seeing adoption. But it could be years before it sees steady usage. The adoption picture, as defined by cardholders loading a card, is improving for Apple Pay, according to the latest numbers …

Consumers increasingly want choice in bill payments, according to findings from a new study by Fiserv Inc. The bank and payment processor’s Eighth Annual Billing Household Survey found that the average number of payment methods consumers use monthly rose from 2.9 in 2014 to 3.6 in 2015, a 24% increase. …

• Prepaid card and mobile-banking provider Green Dot Corp. named three new independent directors to its board and non-independent director Sam Altman stepped down as the company expanded its board from eight to 10 directors, all but one of them now independent. Green Dot shareholder Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, which …

In another indication of the rebound of near-field communication for payments, some 148 million consumers globally will use the contactless technology in a mobile or wearable device to buy something this year, according to the latest report from Juniper Research, released Monday. Fully 70% of these consumers will be wielding …

Merchant processor iPayment Inc. announced Monday it will offer a white-label version of Apriva’s AprivaPay Plus to small and mid-size merchants. Dubbed iPayment MobilePay, the mobile point-of-sale service uses AprivaPay Plus, mPOS software developed by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Apriva. Merchants can use the service with iOS, Android, or Amazon Fire mobile …

• Prepaid card provider Green Dot Corp., under pressure from an activist investor to boost earnings, announced it would buy $50 million of its Class A common shares under an accelerated stock-repurchase plan.   • Remote deposit capture and mobile-payments technology provider Cachet Financial Solutions Inc. will continue to provide …

Funding activity for startups in the payments business continued at a hectic pace over the past six months—but the total dollars invested fell through the floor. There were 75 funding deals in the first quarter totaling $396 million, according to the latest data from CB Insights, a New York City-based …