US mobile payment provider Square is relaxing its current rules in a bid to maintain its fast growth in the increasingly competitive US mobile payments market. The company is lifting its previous limit that prevented merchants from immediately receiving all the money processed by Square beyond US$1,000 per week. Removing the time lag regulation, whose purpose was to prevent fraud, should enable users to access their funds from Square quicker. It is also a sign that it is intent on broadening its reach to target larger merchants.

The company also announced that it has now activated 800,000 merchants on its payment system and is processing US$2 billion in payment volumes on an annualized basis.  It  previously said in May it had 500,000 merchant activations. Square is facing growing competition not just from powerful rivals such as Google, Isis and Paypal but also smaller competitors who are imitating its service which turns smartphones and tablets into point-of-sales terminals with the addition of an app and card-reader dongle.  Earlier this year in another move to maintain growth in a competitive market Square reduced its charges by dropping a per-transaction fee for merchants. The company has so far chased smaller users but its rule change indicates that it is now targeting larger companies as well in its bid for potential customers.