Competitive Strategies

• U.S. senators from Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, three states where recreational marijuana use is legal, asked the various federal bank and credit-union regulatory agencies to develop joint guidance for how financial institutions could serve legal cannabis businesses; marijuana use remains illegal under federal law, meaning that many marijuana merchants …

Though merchants have been permitted since 2013 to add surcharge fees to credit card transactions, it’s only in 2016 and 2017 that the practice will become the norm, ushering in a new phase of a sometimes contentious relationship between merchants, the payment card industry, and consumers. That’s the assertion of …

As online shopping continues to grow, consumer anxiety about the security of the payment card credentials on e-commerce sites remains a top concern. Some 48% of consumers want more assurances about their online shopping security, finds a survey released Wednesday by Tender Armor. The survey of more than 1,000 consumers, …

• Merchant acquirer Global Payments Inc. reported net income of $69.1 million for fiscal 2016’s third quarter ended Feb. 29, up 10.4% from $62.6 million a year earlier. Revenues came in at $679.9 million, up 2.2%. Global Payments expects to complete its acquisition of Heartland Payment Systems Inc. this month. …

With the April 18 tax-filing deadline bearing down, a new cash-payment option from the Internal Revenue Service and payment processors PayNearMe and Official Payments lets consumers pay federal income taxes in cash at 7-Eleven convenience stores—and if there’s any money left, they can ease the pain with a Slurpee. PayNearMe, …

Automated clearing house governing body NACHA says nearly all of the nation’s biggest financial institutions plan to originate same-day ACH payments this year. The January-February telephone survey of executives at 22 of the nation’s top 25 ACH originators found that 95%, which works out to all but one of the …

•  PayPal Holdings Inc. will not follow through on plans announced two weeks ago to expand in Charlotte, N.C., and add 400 jobs because of North Carolina’s recently enacted House Bill 2, which PayPal says “perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of …

E-retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. unveiled an e-commerce developer program Monday designed to spread Amazon’s payments service across more shopping sites. Dubbed the Amazon Payments Partner Program, the invitation-only program targets e-commerce developers and platform providers to help them add a pay or Amazon log-in button to their checkout pages. Already, …

• VeriFone Systems Inc. introduced Verifone Carbon, a black, portable point-of-sale system for café owners, quick-service restaurants, and stores that features a tablet screen for the merchant and a smaller screen for the customer, and a stand with a built-in printer. The Intel-powered device includes VeriFone’s cloud-based Commerce Platform that …

Do competing acquirers run a significant risk if they ignore the way Square Inc. operates? Some experts are now saying they do, though you wouldn’t think so in the light of recent events. When 6-year-old Square went public in November, the result was bloody. On the first day of trading, …