Verifone Inc. just gave a boost to traditional taxis by adding new booking features to its taxi hailing and reserving app, Curb. Through an invitation-only pilot, New York cab drivers will be the first in the nation to try out the app’s new functionality. Riders in the Big Apple will now be able to use Curb to set pickup locations, hail cabs immediately or reserve scheduled pickup times. Full launch in more than 60 U.S. cities is expected in the near future.

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Cayan, a technology company headquartered in Boston, launched its third annual Hackathon March 22, 2016. Company insiders expect the three-day event to unleash an array of engineering creativity as teams compete for awards and recognition. "In years past, the Hackathon has led to important advances in our technology," said Henry Helgeson, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Cayan. "Hackathons put the power back into the hands of our talented technology team."

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The war of words between Congress and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau intensified during a March 16, 2016, hearing on Capitol Hill. At least one lawmaker likened CFPB Director Richard Cordray to a “dictator.” Several representatives threatened a revamp of the bureau; some also want to overhaul the 2010 Dodd Frank Act, which created the CFPB. The CFPB has regulatory authority over banks and nonbanks providing financial services that touch consumers. But many lawmakers complain that it lacks any clear oversight and that it has been overly zealous in its pursuit of bad actors. Organizationally, the Bureau is part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, but it receives funding from the Federal Reserve.

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Electronic payments combined with a robust financial infrastructure can spur economic growth, according a Visa Inc. study published March 9, 2016. The Visa-commissioned study, conducted by Moody Analytics, explored the impact of electronic payments on 70 countries between 2011 and 2015 and found a direct correlation between increased debit, credit and prepaid card usage and economic prosperity. Increased use of electronic payment products added $296 billion to gross domestic product (GDP) in the countries studied, which is equivalent to 2.6 million new jobs a year, according to the study. Additionally, average consumption increased 0.18 per household across 70 countries, Moody's analysts reported.

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A new ebook on omnichannel commerce questions the sustainability of current practices in the retail trade. Titled Threat … or Opportunity: Seven Steps to Overcoming the Shockingly High Costs of the Order Management Lifecycle and based on a survey conducted by EKN Research in partnership with Aptos Inc., the book alleges infrastructure costs are undermining profits at numerous omnichannel retailers. EKN Research, a boutique firm based in Deerfield, Ill., and focused on business-technology insights in consumer industries, reported that retailers spend as much as 18 cents of every dollar earned struggling to fulfill customer buy-anywhere, pick-up-anywhere expectations. Additionally, 8 in 10 retailers surveyed reported an increase in order management and fulfillment costs compared to the previous year, reflecting an increase of 5.07 percent. Nearly half of survey respondents cited free shipping policies as a major business challenge.

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There's a new legal brouhaha underway in the payments space; it is pitting small card-accepting businesses against industry heavyweights. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Francisco, against the card brands, EMVCo and major card issuers alleges the liability shift from issuing banks to merchants for fraudulent transactions, which took effect Oct. 1, 2015, violates federal anti-trust laws and other statutes. Lawyers for the merchants want the court to stop enforcement of the liability shift until all EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) terminals are certified by the card brands and processors.

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NYPAY, a forum for payments and mobile commerce executives, held a networking meeting and panel discussion March 8, 2016, in New York City. Titled Innovate or Abandon: The Business of U.S. Financial Inclusion, the event focused on finding ways to improve underserved consumers' access to financial services. Maria D'Albert, a digital and data product development consultant and strategist, moderated the event. She led a discussion with industry leaders from traditional banking and emerging fintech sectors.

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The Merchants Payments Coalition Inc., issued a statement March 3, 2016, urging members of Congress to emulate Canadian, Australian and European initiatives aimed at lowering payment card fees. The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, established in 2007, cited a Canadian proposal now under review for a flat 0.3 percent bank card interchange, claiming it would save Canadian consumers and merchants billions and energize the country's economy. The group further noted U.S. interchange fees and assessments are higher than other developed nations, in some cases as high as 4 percent or $4 for every $100 spent. "That's a 10,000 percent profit margin, since the transaction costs the bank only a few cents," MPC stated in its latest bid to bring what its members believe will be enhanced competition, transparency and reforms to payment processing.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau slapped a $100,000 penalty on the payment network Dwolla Inc. for deceiving consumers about its data security practices. The fine is part of a consent agreement between the CFPB and Dwolla announced on March 2, and marks the federal consumer watchdog's first enforcement action related to data security. "Consumers entrust digital payment companies with significant amounts of sensitive personal information," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement about the enforcement action. "It is critical that companies put systems in place to protect this information and accurately inform consumers about their data security practices." Dwolla failed on both counts, the CFPB asserted.

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MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc.'s Europay, MasterCard Visa (EMV) liability shift deadlines and mobile technologies that replace credit and debit cards are impacting the ATM landscape, according to some payments analysts. MasterCard will shift liability for fraudulent transactions to ATM owners Oct. 1, 2016. Visa's deadline will become effective Oct. 1, 2017. Additionally, a growing number of mobile solutions eliminate the need for credit and debit cards at ATMs. One example is the cardless cash network, Pin4, established in October 2015 by HalCash North America Inc. Pin4 disclosed Feb. 23, 2016, it had reached an agreement with Payment Alliance International for a phased U.S. rollout of a multifaceted mobile cash solution.

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The consensus among payments experts is that broad EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) adoption in the United States will lead to increased crime associated with e-commerce transactions, and payment enterprises are developing solutions to thwart card-not-present (CNP) fraud. Two such companies – Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), a global acquirer based in Columbus, Ga., and Ethoca Ltd., a technology services company headquartered in Toronto – recently teamed to create a new level of protection for e-commerce transactions.

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