Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Installment-payments provider Klarna said it added 60,000 merchants to its network in 2019. More than 190,000 merchants offer Klarna as a payment option now. The number of monthly U.S. active users of the Klarna app, which enables them to shop with any store or brand online, increased almost 160% from July through September.Core-banking …

Following up on a $30-million investment in June, blockchain-services provider Ripple Labs Inc. has made another $20-million equity investment in wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc., making Ripple the owner of nearly 10% of MoneyGram’s common stock. Announced Monday, the new investment is no surprise. The companies indicated in June it …

The major payment card networks have long since come to terms with PayPal Holdings Inc., and now they’re finding ways to put that newfound friendship to use in burnishing their brands with cardholders. The latest example surfaced Monday with an announcement from Discover Financial Services that Discover cardholders can use …

Processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) announced it has integrated IBM Corp.’s Safer Payments tool for its peer-to-peer payments products. Safer Payments relies on artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through transactions for signs of fraud.Catch Hospitality Group, which operates the Catch NYC and Catch Steak restaurants, said it discovered malware on …

In recent years, independent sales organizations and payment processors have generated plenty of lucrative business by working with software developers and marketers—businesses usually known as independent software vendors, or ISVs. But now a report indicates the software market is getting increasingly crowded, a development ISVs fear is pressuring prices. It’s …

The Church’s Chicken restaurant chain said it is investigating a possible breach of credit and debit card data at about 165 company-owned locations in 11 states. The company, which said it is working with federal authorities, has hired a cybersecurity firm and has notified the card networks and credit-reporting agencies.Recurring household bills …

Researchers and risk-control firms have been monitoring the increase in e-commerce fraud for years, and it’s hit home for a group of merchants surveyed by American Express Co. A newly released AmEx survey that included 400 business leaders says they estimate 27% of their firms’ annual online sales are fraudulent …

PayPal Holdings Inc. is betting big on its strategy of boosting its e-commerce presence with its approximately $4 billion acquisition of Honey Science Corp., a technology platform that helps consumers find offers and deals on popular e-commerce sites. Announced Wednesday afternoon, the deal envisions Honey tapping into the more than …

Newtek Business Services Corp., a provider of loans, merchant processing, and other services for small businesses, acquired a 51% stake in POS on Cloud, developer of payments and business-management systems for restaurants, retailers, assisted-living providers, and parks and golf courses.Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) said Eyefinity, a software developer for …

The trend toward faster payments involves several dimensions, one of which is faster card delivery to a wide array of sponsors and users who until now had little or no access to cards branded by a global network. Galileo Financial Technologies Inc. said Thursday it’s offering that capability with an …

A leading credit-union service organization reported Wednesday that it has distributed half a million contactless payment cards through some of its members, and Mastercard Inc. has paired up with a French investment firm with an eye on bringing new fare technology to mass-transit systems. St. Petersburg, Fla.-based PSCU says it …

Observers of mobile wallets have focused attention on user counts as a sign of adoption, but that leaves open the question of how many of these consumers are turning into habitual users. As it turns out, mobile-payments apps have a much harder time retaining users than do banking apps, according …

Chargebacks911, a dispute-mitigation and risk-management provider, said Santa Barbara, Calif., has the highest rate of fraudulent credit card chargebacks at 6.79%, followed by Paradise Valley, Ariz., 6.73%, and La Mirada, Calif., 6.68%. Other top 10 cites are listed in the company’s chargeback study, the second since 2014.Mobile-shopping and -payments app …

Venture capital continues to flow to payments companies, which ranked among the top recipients of financial-technology sector funding in the third quarter, according to a new report. And credit-union services organization PSCU announced it will invest $100 million in its payments platform over the next three years. Sweden-based Klarna, a …

HSBC Bank USA N.A. has made a real-time payments service, via The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC, available to its commercial and institutional clients. HSBC said these clients have been able to receive real-time payments since July and now can send them. HSBC expects to roll out the service to its consumer …

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in May 2018. More than one year later, most financial organizations—including banks, payment and trading services, and global exchanges, as well as the companies that rely on them—are struggling to maintain GDPR compliance.  While prohibitive costs and the derailment of other, …

Confirming rumors that the Federal Trade Commission is looking into issues involving debit card transaction routing, Visa Inc. late last week reported the Federal Trade Commission has asked it to voluntarily provide information about its routing practices. In a brief notice in its fiscal 2019 report to the Securities and …

U.S. payments companies looking to acquire properties in key markets like e-commerce and merchant acquiring have found a willing seller in Sage Group PLC. Early Monday, the company announced it agreed to sell its payments gateway, Sage Pay Europe Ltd., to Atlanta-based Elavon for $300 million. The deal will bring …

Checkers Drive-in Restaurants Inc., which in May said malware had affected certain of its Checkers and Rally’s locations, said it is aware the malware had affected one more Checkers and Rally’s location and also that the malware had been re-installed at “several” locations the company had previously identified as affected. The company …

In its first full quarter as a public company, Repay Holdings Corp. said its card-payment volume of $2.6 billion was a 40% increase over the 2018 third quarter. Payments providers Usio Inc. and Net Element Inc. also reported their earnings results. Atlanta-based Repay, which acquired APS Payments and TriSource Solutions …