March, 2019

• 1 March

  The Tech Imperative

  

  When news broke in mid-January that Fiserv Inc. had offered to buy First Data Corp. in an all-stock transaction, we knew instantly we had our cover story. The trouble was, our February issue was already buttoned up, so we knew we’d have to wait for March. As often happens, this …

January, 2019

• 31 January

  On Realism

  

  It was only a matter of time before the payments industry, some of which had succumbed over the years to a flight of fancy over blockchain technology, returned to earth. To be fair, this episode never reached the level of hysteria, nor were enthusiasts entirely wrong in their expectations. The …
• 1 January

  The Ultimate Mobile Payment

  

  It was only a matter of time before the stars lined up to put digital-payment capability into automobiles. After all, where do U.S. consumers spend their time when not at rest? And what has been their favorite pastime, after sports, politics, or videogaming? As senior editor Kevin Woodward explains in …

December, 2018

• 1 December

  Chase Tries Again

  

  One thing that can help put over a new payment technology is backing from a bank or technology company that controls a huge chunk of the consumer universe. But the key word here is “help.” Consumers and merchants have to be ready for the technology, as well. With contactless cards, …

November, 2018

• 1 November

  More Than a Token Effort

  

  The nation’s two big card networks (maybe we should just start calling them payments networks) come in for a fair bit of criticism, particularly from merchants. Much of it is justified. But the fact remains they are pretty good at doing what networks must do: switching a great bulk of …

September, 2018

• 30 September

  You Just Can’t Please Everyone

  

  We were just wrapping up this issue when word came of the proposed $6.24 billion monetary settlement of the big federal antitrust case that has, for more than a decade, pitted merchants against card networks and major banks. The deal, however, only settles the money question—how much merchants will get …
• 2 September

  ILC, FDIC, OCC: When Alphabet Soup Is a Good Thing

  

  At the end of July came an opening for nonbank payments players that, as the old expression goes, you could drive a Mack truck through. And it’s our guess that we’ll be hearing much more about this opening—and about how financial-technology firms and other nonbanks are exploiting it—for quite some …

August, 2018

• 22 August

  Steadiness in a Dizzying World

  

  It has never been easy following the payments business. We know. We’ve been doing it for a living, in one publishing incarnation or another, for the better part of three decades, including 15 years with this magazine. The reason is not hard to figure out. The business is complicated to …

June, 2018

• 29 June

  Notes on Sports Betting

  

  As soon as we heard that the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down a federal law that prohibited states from legalizing sports betting, we began to wonder how much of an opportunity this landmark ruling held out for the payments industry. The results of our curiosity on the matter start …
• 1 June

  P2P’s Newtonian Reaction

  

  Call it Newtonian market dynamics. Sir Isaac Newton propounded the physical law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now, in the suddenly vibrant market for person-to-person payments, we’re seeing an analogous reaction unfold. As our cover story on page 22 explains, financial institutions have made …