Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Stories too good to be true often aren’t. The curtain has at long last been pulled back on high-flying payments fintech Wirecard AG. A whopping $2.1 billion in cash on its balance sheet can’t be verified and likely never existed. Chief executive Markus Braun has resigned and was arrested. Chief …

American Express Co. announced a global, $200 million Shop Small campaign to support small businesses, many of which have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. U.S. AmEx cardholders can get $5 back after they spend $10 or more, up to 10 times, when they buy online or in-store at qualified businesses …

While e-commerce sales overall have ballooned for many merchants since the March 11 declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic, health-and-beauty and business supplies generally did not. Until last week. Online business supplies sales were up 21% and health-and-beauty sales were up 20% for the week of June 16-22, reports the Signifyd …

ATM network operator Cardtronics plc said customers of Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) will get access to the 55,000 ATMs in the Cardtronics-owned Allpoint surcharge-free network, including several at the new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, under a new agreement between the companies.Payment technology provider Galileo announced the full launch of Galileo Instant, a service …

All card schemes are now on board with the new deadline for the U.S. EMV liability shift in April 2021. So, the time to upgrade—if you haven’t—is now.  Adding EMV chip readers both inside a store and at automated fuel dispensers (AFDs) isn’t intended to be a hardship for gas …

Paysafe Group on Thursday capped a recent restructuring of its payment-processing unit with the appointment of a chief executive for the unit’s U.S. acquiring division. Afshin Yazdian on July 1 will take over the division, one of two businesses formed with the splitting of the company’s payment-processing unit. Paysafe also …

German payments provider Wirecard, which entered the U.S. market in 2016, filed for insolvency, it announced Thursday, following the disclosure last week of more than $2 billion in disputed cash. It is evaluating whether insolvency will be filed for its subsidiaries.In an update, Mastercard Inc. reported its switched transaction volume recorded a 1% increase in the …

The new regime at unattended-payments provider USA Technologies Inc. is now in place after a proxy fight that deposed the old management team and board of directors, and it’s looking for growth from underexploited opportunities and cost-cutting. “With the uncertainties of the proxy contest now behind us combined with a …

Payments companies have been working for months against a backdrop of consumer fears induced by the new coronavirus, and on Wednesday Shift4 Payments Inc. launched a contactless-payment capability with a twist: it relies on Quick Response codes rather than the much more common near-field communication technology found in major-brand credit …

7-Eleven Inc. is testing a fuel loyalty program that also provides a contactless payment option with Siri functionality for iPhone users. The convenience-store chain also is expanding its mobile checkout capability through its app to Utah locations. Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven is testing the fuel loyalty service in Orlando, Fla., northern …

Amadis, a payment software provider, announced an EMV migration product for petroleum and convenience stores. In conjunction with Advanced Mobile Payment Inc. and Texas Engineering Consulting Systems and Services, Amadis developed a proprietary Android-based contactless pay-at-the-pump product that decouples the fuel pump dispenser from the point-of-sale system, enabling payment authorization to take …

Facing criticism for withholding as much as 30% of some small merchants’ payment volume, merchant processor and business software provider Square Inc. on Tuesday posted an explanation of its new reserve policy. “Out of our millions of sellers, fewer than 0.3% have reserves on their accounts, but given increased interest, …

Mastercard Inc.’s $825-million deal for Finicity Corp., announced Tuesday, may be aimed at ensuring a strong position in burgeoning markets like point-of-sale credit, but it could also prove handy as consumers struggle with the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, observers say. The acquisition, which Mastercard says should close by …

Visa Inc. said its Visa Token Service has now issued more than 1 billion tokens globally, with more than 680 million tokens issued in the past 12 months. Tokens replace Visa account numbers with data strings that are useless if stolen.Authentication services provider Giact released its “The Changing Landscape of Identity Fraud: Fraudsters Strike …

More older consumers—those 45 years old or more—are likely to pick up online shopping as a routine shopping channel, predicts eMarketer Inc. The New York City-based research firm forecasts a 5.8% increase in the number of online shoppers in that demographic. That is up from the earlier forecast of 3.2%. …

One of the most aggressive—and worrisome—central bank digital currency models is a proposal from law professors Morgan Ricks and John Crawford and lawyer and former regulator Lev Menand that the Fed provide direct banking “FedAccounts” to consumers and businesses. It’s intended to improve payments efficiency and reduce the number of …

Maverick Payments launched its payment gateway, which supports 3-D Secure, account updaters, and interchange optimization.Digital-payments technology provider Checkout.com announced a $150 million Series B funding round, valuing the company at $5.5 billion. The round, led by technology fund Coatue, tripled the company’s value.ATM and point-of-sale hardware and software provider Diebold Nixdorf Inc. said it generated …

ATM manufacturer Diebold Nixdorf Inc. extended its agreement with consulting firm Accenture plc to streamline its operations by making business processes digital and moving them to the cloud. Diebold Nixdorf says the pact could yield $50 million in savings through 2023.The Federal Reserve released its FraudClassifier model, an effort to bring consistency to the …

Splitit Payments Ltd. announced Thursday that it had signed a multiyear agreement with Mastercard Inc. intended to accelerate adoption of its installment-payment service for online merchants. The distribution agreement opens the possibility of Mastercard-accepting merchants offering Splitit as a financing option to their customers. New York City-based Splitit also has …

Digital fiat currencies are coming. Bitcoin and the more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies it inspired have ignited the interest of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Peoples Bank of China, as well as that of private-sector players like Visa and Facebook, in digital currencies tied to dollars, euros, …