Payment processing giant First Data Corp. is becoming more aggressive in its mobile point-of-sale strategy, announcing that it is collaborating with financial institutions to design small business solutions using Pogo, First Data's mobile POS product.

Pogo was launched last year as a standalone solution that offers small merchants a relatively rugged alternative to other mPOS solutions. Apparently, First Data would like to turn Pogo into more of a white label solution that FIs can offer to small business clients as they begin dabbling in credit and debit card acceptance.

"First Data is powering Universal Commerce by providing merchants a full range of solutions that help grow their business — whether today with Pogo as a logical first step, or tomorrow as they move up to a more multifunctional POS solution," said Bruce Dragt, SVP of First Data Retail and Alliance Services. "Many banks and other partners are now incorporating Pogo into their suite of business solutions that they can offer small business customers when they are signing up for new bank services such as checking accounts."

Banks working with First Data include First American Bank, Mutual of Omaha Bank, Associated Bank, First Bank, IBC Bank, BancorpSouth, Extraco Banks and Mountain America Credit Union. According to First Data, getting started with Pogo is as simple as signing up online through an FI's branded web site.

Along with processing transactions, Pogo also supports a full suite of payment tools and analytics, online reporting, electronic receipts, barcode scanning for faster checkout, and the simple pricing common to mobile POS solutions.

Though First Data is the world's largest merchant acquirer, it's facing stiff competition for the "micromerchants" who are attracted to mobile POS solutions. With products such as Square, Intuit GoPayment and PayPal Here, small merchants can use a card-reading dongle coupled with an app on a smartphone or tablet to turn their mobile device into a POS terminal.

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