Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Bank of America Corp. says it has 8 million active users of the bank-backed Zelle person-to-person payment service and that it handled 69 million Zelle transactions in the second quarter, nearly double the 35.2 million transactions a year earlier. BofA had 5.4 million Zelle users in the 2019 first quarter. …

Facebook Inc.’s Calibra wallet will generate revenue for its parent by stimulating incremental advertising but the proposed Libra cryptocurrency will also work with competing wallet apps, the company’s point man for Calibra said Tuesday. David Marcus, head of Calibra for the huge social network, said in prepared remarks that the new …

PayPal Holdings Inc. says its Xoom remittance service now covers 32 markets in Europe, an expansion that boosts Xoom’s presence to more than 130 international markets. Xoom, which PayPal bought in 2015, had a major expansion in 2018 when it picked up 60 countries in a deal with Euronext Worldwide …

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported its merchant-acquiring subsidiary processed $371.6 billion in payments in the second quarter, a 12% increase from a year earlier. On the issuing side, the massive banking firm reported $281.5 billion in second-quarter credit and debit card sales volume, up 10%. Wells Fargo & Co. reported …

Fraud-control executives and researchers predicted card-not-present fraud would boom when the U.S. converted to EMV chip cards a few years ago, and, sure enough, it did. But if the experiences of other countries that adopted EMV before the U.S. are any guide, Americans can take relief in that CNP fraud …

The Litecoin Foundation said the Miami Dolphins National Football League team named Litecoin its official cryptocurrency. The digital currency will be accepted for payment for ticket purchases in the team’s 50/50 raffle. Bitcoin also may be used for these ticket purchases. Citigroup Inc. reported $93.2 billion in second-quarter purchase volume …

Microsoft Corp. will stop supporting its Windows 7 operating system next January, and that’s set off the latest dash by ATM deployers to convert to the next OS while there’s still time. For most deployers, that’s Windows 10, but some might be in a better position to meet the deadline …

The nation’s automated clearing house network went on a tear in the quarter ended June 30, notching its highest growth rate since 2008 thanks to double-digit growth for key categories like Internet payments and business-to-business transfers. Total volume for the quarter came to 6.1 billion transactions, an increase of 7.7% …

Likening Amazon Prime Day, which takes place July 15-16, to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, threat-detection firm Cyberint warns that so-called threat traffic will run 30% higher than usual in the days leading up to, including, and shortly after Prime Day, in line with the volume experienced during the holiday …

With merchants facing a projected 16.4% increase in U.S. card-not-present fraud by 2021, many are relying more and more on automated screening tools to cull bad transactions from the pile of good ones. That’s the assessment from Aite Group Inc. in its report, “The E-Commerce Conundrum: Balancing False Declines and …

Synthetic identity fraud has become the fastest-growing and one of the most difficult financial crimes to detect in the United States, says a white paper released this week by the Federal Reserve. Lenders in the United States lost $6 billion to synthetic identity fraud in 2016, with the average chargeoff …

Amazon Prime Day is set for next week, and by all accounts Amazon.com Inc.’s online and in-store shopping frenzy is likely to be a payments-palooza. The event, which despite its name is set to cover two full days—July 15 and 16—this year, will generate $5.8 billion in sales, with $3.6 …

Business-to-business payments specialist Billtrust said Priority Commercial Payments, a unit of Priority Technology Holdings Inc., joined the Billtrust Business Payments Network. Mastercard Inc. said it is collaborating with OpenText, an enterprise information-management firm, on a business payments service and initially is targeting the automotive industry. Mastercard also said it is …

As the gig economy grows, so does workers’ need for quicker access to their wages than they can get through traditional payroll schedules. To facilitate faster delivery of wages to gig and hourly workers, Mastercard Inc. has partnered with Memphis, Tenn.-based Evolve Bank & Trust to push wages in real …

A payments provider called Park Place Payments launched with a direct sales force made up of women and an offer of advanced technology coupled with transparent pricing. Lime, which offers electric scooters for urban transport, has contracted with payout service Hyperwallet to pay so-called juicers, a network of contractors that …

Denver’s use of Uber for transit ticketing appears to be gaining traction among commuters. More than 1,200 tickets have been sold through the app since its May 3 launch, Uber Technologies Inc. announced Tuesday. That pegs growth at an average of 42% per week in the launch period, the ride-share …

Nxt-ID Inc.’s Fit Pay Inc. unit is using contactless technology from CPI Card Group Inc. for Fit Pay’s coin-shaped Flip device, which lets users store and spend U.S. dollars converted from Bitcoin holdings. Specifically, Fit Pay, a unit of Melbourne, Fla.-based Nxt-ID Inc., has adopted a product called “Adaptives,” CPI …

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. may be making significant progress in their bid to simplify and speed their aged and cumbersome chargeback processes through automation, rules changes, and some key acquisitions, experts contend. The biggest gains in chargeback efficiency are expected to come when Visa and Mastercard launch real-time communications …

Mastercard Inc. completed its acquisition of Transfast, a cross-border payments specialist. Terms were not disclosed. Transfast provides B2B and person-to-person payment services through a network it says covers more than 125 countries and includes direct integrations with more than 300 banks and other financial institutions. The company also supports Mastercard …

Prepaid payments provider InComm Inc. announced the acquisition of Meridian Loyalty, an incentives provider for large corporations. Separately, Fleetcor Technologies Inc. said it will acquire Sole Financial, a payroll card provider. Atlanta-based InComm said its acquisition of St. Louis-based Meridian will boost its incentive business for corporations. Among Meridian’s specialties …