Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

The clamor to sign up merchants that want to sell hemp-derived cannabidiol products is undiminished despite multiple questions about what a legal CBD product is and how to onboard these merchants. “The banks are having a tough time now because it’s so new,” said Travis Chrisman, president and cofounder of …

Familiar now as a point-of-sale payment option, transactional credit is moving into the much larger—and more complicated—world of business-to-business payments. Splitit Payments Ltd. announced on Monday it has launched a service that allows merchants and other small businesses to pay suppliers with regular, interest-free installments on an existing business credit …

The Federal Trade Commission announced settlements with the two principals of Apex Capital Group, an Internet marketer of dietary supplements and personal-care products the FTC accused of using deceptive free-trial offers and negative-option billing in the U.S. and United Kingdom. The defendants must surrender assets valued at $3 million or more and are barred …

With three processor megamergers having closed in 2019, the value of firms involved in handling and managing electronic payments has seldom been clearer. But further evidence emerged this week with news of Stripe Inc.’s latest funding round, which valued the San Francisco-based payments-technology company at fully $35 billion. Indeed, at …

The China-based payments network UnionPay International said it now links to more than 28 million merchants outside China, with 2 million having been added in the first half of 2019. The company also said 80% of U.S. merchants now accept UnionPay credit cards.Visa Inc. said its B2B Connect network now processes cross-border corporate …

With the closing of three megamergers this year, one might think investment opportunities in payments and acquiring could shrink. But that would be an error. That was the assessment of investment professionals speaking Thursday at the Western States Acquirers Association annual conference in Rancho Mirage, Calif.  “It’s a massive industry. …

Recognizing there is no one-one-size-fits-all approach to data security, the PCI Security Standards Council continues to evolve its requirements toward a goal of greater flexibility for payments providers. The new approach comes as the Council contemplates a new version of its core security standard. Gathering in Vancouver, B.C., this week …

A survey by processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) found that 54 countries now have active real-time payment programs, up from 40 in 2018 and nearly four times as many as 2014.Cross River Bank, which specializes in services for technology companies, has applied to link to The Clearing House Payments Co.’s Real Time …

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became enforceable on May 28, 2018, in the European Union (EU). Now, almost a year and a half later, things seem to be getting a bit more real as companies like British Airways and Marriott International are being hit with substantial fines and the Information …

Leading online retailer Amazon.com Inc. is bringing its Amazon PayCode service to the United States in a deal with The Western Union Co. that gives consumers the option to pay for Amazon purchases in cash. Seattle-based Amazon announced Wednesday that PayCode, which is already live in 19 countries, will be …

Global Payments Inc. completed its $21.5 billion all-stock merger with payment processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). The deal cleared its last major hurdle when European Union antitrust regulators said they had no competition concerns, Reuters reported Tuesday. The merged company serves 3.5 million merchant locations and 1,300 financial institutions in more than 100 …

The warmth of late summer still bathes much of the country, but PayPal Holdings Inc. already has its eyes on the upcoming holiday spending season. The online commerce leader today unveiled a zero-interest financing promotion for its PayPal Credit service with a lowered purchase threshold. In addition to charging no …

CBD is all the rage these days as a newly available medicine that can alleviate everything from pain to insomnia, and now e-commerce platform provider Shopify Inc. is pitching its payment and other support services to U.S. CBD merchants. Ottawa, Ontario-based Shopify, which serves 800,000 merchants globally and has major …

Digital payments, combined with competition from nonbanks in payments, may cost banks as much as 15% of their global payments revenue, or $280 billion, says Accenture in its “2019 Global Payments Survey.” Released Monday, the survey of 240 retail and corporate payments executives across multiple countries suggests that global-payments revenue …

Turnkey Risk Solutions, a risk-management firm specializing in first-party fraud, rebranded as Humaitrix LLC. Payments veterans John J. Leehy III joined the company as chief executive and Gregory W. Sahrmann joined as the chief operating officer. Amy Walraven, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. risk executive, is founder, president, and chief …

As integrated payments continue to garner more interest from payments companies amid increasing merchant demand, two point-of-sale system providers are making it easier for developers to create software programs for merchants.  Revel Systems Inc. last week launched Revel Integrated, a program that offers developer tools and infrastructure to integrate their …

It was probably only a matter of time before the gig economy embraced barbering. A New York City-based startup called Shortcut on Monday announced it was starting its national rollout with an extension of its app-based haircut and hairstyling service to Philadelphia.  Calling itself “the Uber of haircutting and barbering,” …

Financial-technology provider Plaid Inc. disclosed that it has received “strategic investments” from both Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc.Digital payments and competition from nonbanks in payments may cost banks as much as 15% of their global payments revenue, or $280 billion, says Accenture in its “2019 Global Payments Survey.”Visa said it is working with insurance …

Corporate treasurers can identify numerous use cases for real-time or otherwise faster payments, but they do worry about transaction security, according to the Association for Financial Professionals. Some 60% of respondents surveyed in the AFP’s newly released 2019 payments study said business-to-business transactions will benefit the most from faster and …

Payments provider Adyen N.V. said fashion retailer BrandBank will use its payments network throughout markets in Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong. BrandBank operates more than 500 stores.Digital River agreed to provide payments and tax and compliance services on the Salesforce AppExchange.PepsiCo has launched a cash-back rewards program called PepCoin, which lets consumers deposit cash rewards directly …