Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Mobile point-of-sale provider FreedomPay said it has signed Sephora USA, a retail chain offering beauty products at more than 500 stores.The total value of consumer credit card rewards globally will rise 15% to $108 billion by 2026 from $92 billion this year, fueled by increasing adoption of cobranded cards issued by merchants, according to …

Boosted by strong growth in its automated clearing house services, credit card acquiring, and other business lines, merchant processor Usio Inc. reported Thursday that its total dollars processed grew 215% in 2021’s fourth quarter from a year earlier and 184% for the full year. San Antonio, Texas-based Usio processed $9.5 …

A new, $1-million limit takes effect on Friday for same-day processing of automated clearing house transactions. The new cap, 10 times higher than the former one, is expected to open the ACH for faster processing of more large-value transfers and is seen as a landmark move toward faster payments as …

Cannabis-payments platform CanPay said it has passed half a billion dollars in transactions, processing for more than 800 merchant locations in 31 in states.A cryptocurrency-investment platform called BitStore introduced a Mastercard-branded prepaid card that allows users to make payments at merchants with their crypto assets. Processing is handled by Alchemy Pay.Payments provider PayTrace Inc. announced it …

RocketFuel Blockchain, Inc., a provider of payment technology for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, has finalized the integration of its payment solution with ACI Worldwide Inc. The integration to ACI’s Secure eCommerce platform will enable ACI’s more than 80,000 merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments with no processing fees. The partnership between …

Priority Technology Holdings LLC late on Wednesday reported $144 million in revenue for 2021’s December quarter and $514.9 million for the full year, increases of 35.7% and 27.4% year-over-year, respectively.  The Alpharetta, Ga.-based company, which ranks among the 25 largest merchant processors in the country, handles payments and related services …

Escalent Inc., an analytics and advisory firm, said it acquired Mercator Advisory Group, adding to its payments advisory portfolio. Escalent acquired Javelin Strategy & Research in 2019. Current Mercator president and chief executive Robert Misasi will help with the transition before leaving these positions.MoneyGram International Inc. agreed to pay a civil monetary penalty of …

Buy now, pay later options for consumers continue to grow. Nascent airline Breeze Airways will offer Uplift Inc.’s BNPL option to its travelers and Mastercard Inc. announced several more retailers joined its Mastercard Installments program. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Uplift said it is the exclusive BNPL option for Breeze flights. The service …

Fraudsters targeted fintechs at an alarming rate in 2021, according to Sift Science Inc.’s first-quarter 2022 Digital Trust & Safety Index. The index reveals that the payment-fraud attack rate across fintechs within Sift’s network increased a whopping 70% in 2021 compared to 2020. The attack rate is defined as the …

Payments-technology provider XTM Inc. said it has added Apple Pay and Google Pay to its U.S. Today mobile wallet. The company says it has rolled out more than 100,000 wallets so far.Payments provider Nuvei Corp. said it will process payments for cryptocurrency by holders of the Ledger hardware wallet. With the agreement, holders can buy crypto …

CloudPay, a provider of employee payment solutions, is partnering with Visa Inc. to enable payroll to be deposited directly to employee debit or credit cards through Visa Direct, Visa Inc.’s real-time payment network The new service is expected to provide employees immediate access to their funds compared to the two …

Underscoring the rising profile of open banking in consumers’ financial lives, Green Dot Corp. early Tuesday said it has completed an integration for its GO2bank mobile banking app with the Plaid Exchange network from Plaid Inc. The move will connect users of Green Dot’s app, launched only in January last …

Payments provider ACI Worldwide Inc. said its data indicate the number of tax payments made via a mobile device has increased 27% over the same time last year, while the dollar value has climbed 40%. Tax payments via credit card are up 13%, and have increased 8% by debit card. Dollar value …

As e-commerce merchants look to make checkout faster and more convenient for a rising volume of online customers, e-commerce platform provider BigCommerce Holdings Inc. is partnering with Bolt Financial Inc., a developer of cloud-based checkout, payments, and fraud prevention solutions, to more quickly enable BigCommerce merchants of all sizes to …

Buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Inc. said its fiscal quarter-to-date financial metrics exceeded its expectations, leading it to revise its financial outlook. Affirm on Feb. 10 had expected its gross merchandise volume to be no more than $3.71 billion, but now says it will be at least that much.Aplazo, a buy …

Having held off for the past two years, the country’s two biggest card networks are preparing revisions to their interchange schedules that at least one research firm says will cost U.S. merchants an estimated $475 million in additional transaction fees. Though Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have historically revised their …

With consumers starting to dine out again, improving their dining experience through digital ordering and tableside payments solutions is becoming a pressing need for restaurants. Texas Roadhouse has become the latest restaurant chain to take the digital plunge, implementing Ziosk’s Cloud Commerce Platform for digital tableside ordering and payments. The …

With momentum accelerating behind faster payments on the automated clearing house, fraud prevention is taking on a higher profile at the nation’s banks. In the latest move, Bank of America Corp. on Thursday introduced ACH Positive Pay on its CashPro mobile app. The move will let app users review and …

E-commerce platform eBay Inc. announced it is launching a digital wallet, its first, to allow sellers to use proceeds from their sales to make purchases or pay for selling expenses.The Western Union Co. has suspended operations in Russia and Belarus in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move follows decisions by other global …

The steady development of the cryptocurrency industry worldwide and domestically has led the executive branch of the federal government to lay the groundwork for regulation of these assets. The move, embodied in an executive order signed Wednesday by President Joe Biden, has drawn applause from some payments trade groups, though …