Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Discover Financial Services reported its payment-services volume totaled $69.7 billion in the third quarter, up 11% year-over-year. Volume on the Pulse debit network increased 16% to $55 billion owing to larger average spending due to the pandemic and to the lift from stimulus funds.Payments provider PaymentCloud Inc. said it acquired contactless technology startup …

Visa Inc. on Wednesday announced the rollout in 15 geographic markets of Visa Tap to Phone, which allows consumers to initiate a transaction simply by tapping a contactless card to a merchant’s NFC-enabled mobile device.  Tap to Phone is now live in numerous countries throughout Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia …

PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a service that allows account holders to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their account. The company also said it will make cryptocurrency available as a funding source for purchases at the 26 million merchants worldwide that accept PayPal.Payments provider FIS Inc. said it added pharmacy chain Walgreens …

With merchant adoption of contactless payment solutions accelerating due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Incognia, a provider of fraud-detection applications, announced an app Tuesday to detect Quick Response code fraud.  The application uses location behavioral biometrics to create a digital fingerprint for the consumer’s identity. It uses the buyer’s real-time and …

In today’s global economy, opportunities for growth are often accompanied by an increasingly complex landscape of rules, regulations and compliance issues. Since compliance is now an element of everyday business operations, businesses must employ a measured, holistic program with several key components, including real-time watch list screening. Through new technology, …

The nation’s automated clearing house network surged again in the September quarter, even with a waning of federal-assistance payments. Volume grew by double-digit percentage increases in most major categories as the network handled 6.8 billion transactions overall, up 9%, Nacha reported Tuesday. Nacha is the governing body for the network, …

Last conducted in 2016, the latest Third-Party Processing Pricing Benchmark Study from The Strawhecker Group indicates that debit and credit card transaction pricing appears to have leveled off.  The average value of an IP-connected front-end authorization and capture action in 2020 is $0.016 for jumbo wholesale acquirers, or those with …

Payments industry veterans Will Graylin and George Wallner launched a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo for OV Valet, their new company that wants to offer Superkey, a fob that uses near-field communication and magnetic secure transmission technology, to enable tap-and-pay payments.Payments-technology provider VoPay International Inc. said it is working with Visa Inc. to integrate the …

Though the restaurant industry has taken a hit during most of 2020 because of Covid-19 countermeasures, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need new technology and services. That’s why Ziosk Inc., a Dallas-based point-of-sale technology provider, accelerated its development schedule this year and released a suite of new products. Now, in …

Billtrust, a provider of accounts-receivable software for businesses, said it will go public at a valuation of $1.3 billion through a merger with South Mountain Merger Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Going public via a SPAC has become an increasingly popular option in recent months.In …

China has historically pioneered the evolution of money. From the ancient use of cowry shells as commodity money, the standardization of bronze coins around 1000 B.C., leather-made promissory notes during the Han dynasty, or the introduction of paper currency around the seventh century, China has shown the way. It should then come …

Much has been written about the need for merchants to adopt various forms of contactless payments to suit jittery customers and cashiers in the midst of Covid-19, but often the conversion to touch-free transactions is easier said than done. In response, Square Inc. late Thursday unveiled an application programming interface …

Because of Covid-19, many employees who have access to payments data are working from home, making it awkward if not impossible for data-security assessors to conduct onsite inspections. In response, the PCI Security Standards Council says it plans to make the next version of its data-security standard more reflective of …

MoneyGram International Inc. reached an agreement with Lulu Money in which consumers in Hong Kong can send or receive money at any Lulu Money location and also link to the MoneyGram network.In related news, MoneyGram and PayMaya, a payments provider in the Philippines, have agreed to launch a service that will allow …

The economy may have fallen into recession, but processors and online stores can expect a healthy holiday season this year, according to projections released Thursday by ACI Worldwide Inc. The Naples, Fla.-based payments provider said e-commerce transactions will jump 27% globally in the fourth quarter compared to the same period …

With a looming holiday shopping season inflected by uncertainties surrounding the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, payments firms are trying to work out how consumers may change spending habits this year. A study released Thursday indicates processors expect a healthy jump in e-commerce volume, including a surge for gift cards. …

Restaurant technology specialist Ziosk expanded its Ziosk Platform to now include a Quick Response code service for contactless menu browsing, ordering, and payment. It also includes handheld and integration models of its service. Ziosk said the average use rate for its original devices is 92%, an average increase of almost 30% since …

Fintech startup Save has reached an agreement to use Galileo Financial Technologies Inc.’s API-driven payments-processing platform for its Debit Invest debit cards and Save Market Savings accounts.  Galileo’s platform is expected to make it easier for Save customers to open and fund their accounts and integrate them with Save’s bank …

The announcement from the Federal Reserve late Monday of a pilot for the FedNow real-time payments service may represent an important stage in the development of a service not expected to go live until 2023 at the earliest. But observers caution rival services have already made headway with key market …

The Western Union Co. has extended an agreement with grocer The Kroger Co. to offer Western Union payment services at Kroger stores.Parking-app provider ParkMobile LLC announced an agreement with Diamond Parking to expand usage of the app to some 2,000 parking spots in more than 40 locations in San Diego. The app claims nearly 100,000 …