Sales at small businesses included in the CardFlight Small Business Impact Report for July 22 experienced a 2.6% increase in sales week-over-week and are 25% above the baseline week of March 2-8. Food and drink sales were up 4.5% for the week and retail sales increased 4% week-over-week.Wells Fargo & Co. launched My …
Read More »Starbucks Expands Reward-Eligible Payment Methods and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/21/20
Coffee king Starbucks Corp. announced new options beginning this fall for earning loyalty points, or stars, in the Starbucks Rewards program without paying with a registered Starbucks physical card or card loaded into the Starbucks mobile app. The options to be available at company-owned stores in the United States and Canada will …
Read More »The Card Networks and Open Banking; Crypto Platform Joins Mastercard Network and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/20/20
Cryptocurrency platform Wirex has become the first such entity to obtain a principal membership in the Mastercard network. The move comes as Mastercard Inc. announced an expansion of its cryptocurrency program, which aims to make it easier for crypto card companies to market their products. Wirex also announced recently it has hired long-time …
Read More »BigCommerce Eyes IPO and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/17/20
E-commerce services provider BigCommerce Holdings Inc. filed a registration statement this week ahead of a possible IPO.In its latest report on small businesses using its SwipeSimple payment service during the Covid-19 pandemic, CardFlight Inc. said overall transaction counts decreased 9.2% in the week ending July 12 from the week before, but were still 14% …
Read More »EMVCo’s New Travel Authentication Guidelines and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/16/20
Standards body EMVCo has developed guidelines on how the travel industry can provide data to payment card issuers to better verify the authenticity of an e-commerce transaction using current authentication processes. The guidelines are an extension of EMVCo’s 3-D Secure messaging protocol.The number of data breaches in the United States dropped by approximately one-third in the …
Read More »U.S. Bancorp’s Merchant Revenues Plunge and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/15/20
U.S. Bancorp, owner of merchant acquirer Elavon Inc., saw merchant-processing revenues decline 34% year-over-year in the second quarter to $266 million thanks to reduced consumer and business volumes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.Processor Shift4 Payments Inc. has been named the official credit card processing company for the Las Vegas Raiders National Football …
Read More »Visa’s Installment-Payment Test and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/14/20
Visa Inc. announced it is working on U.S. pilots for a new installment-payment service. TSYS, part of Global Payments Inc., will be the first issuer technology partner, with Commerce Bank as the first U.S. bank partner. 42nd Street Photos, Tire Agent, and The Room Place are among the first merchants to offer …
Read More »eBay’s Pact With PayPal Nears End and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/13/20
Sellers continue to have questions about the impact of moving to eBay Inc.’s managed-payments program as the online marketplace’s five-year operating agreement with PayPal Holdings Inc. is set to expire later this week.Financial-services platform Nymbus Inc. announced it will offer digital billing and other payment services from Payrailz LLC as part of its cloud-based set of banking …
Read More »Marqeta’s Possible IPO and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/10/20
Marqeta Inc., a 10-year-old provider of a digital card-issuing platform, is looking to hire investment banks for a possible initial public offering later this year or in 2021, according to Reuters. The company, valued at $4.3 billion after its latest funding, is backed by Goldman Sachs and Visa Inc. and …
Read More »Wirecard’s U.S. Unit Draws Interest and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/9/20
The U.S. subsidiary of failed German payment processor Wirecard AG is drawing strong interest from potential buyers, according to media reports. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Wirecard AG played a critical role in an alleged $100 million bank-fraud conspiracy connected to an online marijuana marketplace.Splitit Payments Ltd., which enables …
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