Competitive Strategies

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 …

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 …

• 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 …

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. …