Wal-Mart and allies in face-off with Apple Pay over mobile payments 

Suddenly it’s Apple versus Wal-Mart in the fight for shoppers’ digital wallets.

With the development of a new mobile payment system, a group of retailers led by Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N) is aiming to upend the $4.5 trillion credit card market and control the precious transaction data generated at the checkout line.
The difficulty of the task became clear this week when drugstore chains CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) and Rite Aid (RAD.N), in a move apparently aimed at shoring up the retailers’ pay system, stopped accepting payments on Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iPhones.

The “skirmish,” as Apple CEO Tim Cook put it this week, is the latest dispute to emerge from the Byzantine world of payment systems, which is dominated by banks and credit card firms.
The retailers’ main objective appears to be to push credit card companies out of the payment equation, or at least get them to lower their costs.

“CurrentC is built for retailers, to help them cut out interchange fees,” said Nick Aceto, senior director at payment technology firm CardConnect, referring to the fees paid by retailers to credit card companies when a shopper makes a purchase.

MCX officials said CurrentC will work on any phone, integrating loyalty programs and payments into one transaction. While the group’s focus is helping consumers, they said, it hopes to shake up the payment system.

Wal-Mart, which has made little secret of its disdain for paying processing charges, is suing Visa for $5 billion for what it says are excessive card swipe fees.

MCX says CurrentC will be secure, an assertion that was tested on Wednesday when the group confirmed that hackers had obtained the e-mail addresses of some participants in a pilot program.

While Wal-Mart has said it has no plans to support Apple Pay, its rival Target is taking a more nuanced approach. Target has said it plans to use MCX for in-store checkout but is allowing Apple Pay for online purchases through its mobile app. Target is featured on the Apple Pay website.

Source: Reuters-Wal-Mart and allies in face-off with Apple Pay over mobile payments

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