Content about Payment systems

NEW YORK — American Express has announced the launch of the American Express for Target card, a reloadable prepaid card with no monthly or maintenance fees, available exclusively at more than 1,000 U.S. Target stores.

WASHINGTON — Retailers and their customers will save billions of dollars when new Federal Reserve regulations cutting debit card swipe fees roughly in half take effect this weekend, the National Retail Federation said.

ARMONK, N.Y. — Winn-Dixie has selected IBM point-of-sale and self-checkout technology to help transform customer service, speed innovation and increase the operational efficiency of 484 Winn-Dixie store locations and other store formats across the southeastern United States, IBM reported.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation said last week that it was disappointed in the final debit card swipe-fee regulations set by the Federal Reserve.

Under the new rule, the current debit card swipe-fee rate of 1% to 2% of each transaction will be replaced with a flat fee of not more than 21 cents per transaction for the nation’s largest banks — substantially higher than the flat fee of up to 12 cents the Federal Reserve originally proposed in December 2010.

WASHINGTON — Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., have offered an amendment to legislation that is designed to delay swipe-fee reforms.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation on Wednesday launched a 60-day lobbying, grassroots and media campaign aimed at ensuring that a new federal law — which is designed to save retailers and their customers more than $1 billion a month by lowering the “swipe fees" banks charge to process debit card transactions — takes effect in late July as scheduled.

NEW YORK — About one month after launching a mobile application that syncs customers' loyalty cards to provide access to online accounts, Stop & Shop is forging ahead with new technology, according to published reports.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association on Tuesday urged Congress to permit the Federal Reserve Board to expedite the implementation of an amendment to the financial-reform legislation from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that would limit the fees charged to retail merchants on debit card transactions (known as “swipe fees”) to a level that is “reasonable and proportionate” to the costs incurred by the banks and credit card associations to process these transactions.

BOSTON — A mobile shopping platform has inked a deal to sell its checkout solution to various retailers.

AisleBuyer said that Alliance will sell its mobile self-checkout solution, which allows shoppers to scan a bar code, read product information and reviews, and complete the checkout process directly from a mobile device without having to wait in line.

WASHINGTON — Though most might associate the Internal Revenue Service with the Grinch, the IRS came through with a last-minute Christmas present for retailers stung by changes in the tax code related to consumers’ use of flexible spending and health reimbursement accounts to purchase approved OTC products.

INDIANAPOLIS PNC Bank has made its branded automated teller machines available for customer use in 135 CVS/pharmacy locations throughout Indiana.

The PNC-branded ATMs, which are owned and operated by Cardtronics, are accessible to all CVS/pharmacy customers. PNC Bank customers will enjoy surcharge-free withdrawals and the ability to check their balances at 135 stores identified with a PNC logo in the window, PNC said.