Discover Global Network continues to expand its international business through a deal with Panamanian payment processor Telered S.A. Telered manages the Sistema Clave, or Clave System, which Discover says is the largest interbank network of ATMs and points of sale in Panama. In business for more than 30 years, Clave’s …
Read More »Strong Growth in Card Sales and Services Boost CPI’s Top Line
Net sales for payment card producer CPI Card Group Inc. jumped 18% in the third quarter as card issuers boosted orders for credit, debit and prepaid cards and CPI’s services offerings. It was the second straight quarter of sales increases for Littleton, Colo.-based CPI following 7% decreases in the first …
Read More »Wero Ramps Up As a European Account-to-Account Payments Provider And Heads to the Point of Sale
European banks are beginning to roll out a new digital wallet called wero that initially provides account-to-account payments and is expected to be expanded to retail payments as well. If so, wero could prove to be a competitive threat to Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., which dominate European payments, raising …
Read More »Profit-Challenged Lightspeed Acknowledges It’s Exploring ‘A Range of Strategic Alternatives’
Point-of-sale and payments-platform provider Lightspeed Commerce Inc. said Thursday it is exploring “strategic alternatives” in the wake of reports the company might put itself up for sale. “While it is the long-standing policy of Lightspeed not to comment on market rumors, the company notes the recent media reports concerning a …
Read More »The Government’s Lawsuit Gets Into the Weeds on How Visa Built And Maintains Its Debit Empire
The U.S. Department of Justice’s 71-page complaint accusing Visa Inc. of monopolizing U.S. debit networks goes into great detail about the company’s pricing strategies and attempts to get merchants and card issuers to direct their debit business toward Visa. Those efforts have been quite successful. Referring to Visa’s so-called “moat” …
Read More »The Justice Department May Haul Visa Into Court Over Debit Card Issues
The biggest question the payments industry is wrestling with this week is whether the U.S. Department of Justice is about to sue Visa Inc., apparently over debit card issues. The financial wires were abuzz with speculation Tuesday morning that the DoJ could file an antitrust lawsuit before the day is …
Read More »Payments Rank High on Community Banks’ To-Do Lists
Against a backdrop of continuing industry consolidation, community banks see digital payments as a key competitive weapon, according to newly released survey data from Bank of New York Mellon Corp. “Nearly 30% of those polled indicated that launching new technology services focused on efficiency and security, such as instant payments, …
Read More »Coinbase Wins a Federal Contract to Store Digital Assets
Cryptocurrency exchange and management provider Coinbase Inc. has won a $35.5-million contract to safeguard and trade digital assets on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service. The Service, a unit of the U.S. Department of Justice, is responsible for asset forfeitures arising from federal legal cases, including cases that involve recovery …
Read More »Plaid Brings Open-Banking Technology to Western Union in Europe
Open-banking technology provider Plaid Inc. is pairing-up with The Western Union Co. to bring its account-verification services to the wire-transfer giant’s European customers. Under the so-called collaboration San Francisco-based Plaid announced Thursday, Western Union will be able to tap Plaid’s open-banking system for account verification, thereby simplifying remittances and digital …
Read More »Usio Manages To Grow Revenues Despite a 26% Decline in Payment Volume
Usio Inc. pulled off a 19% increase in revenues and reduced its losses last year despite a 26% drop in total payment volume processed, according to a new financial filing from the merchant processor. San Antonio, Texas-based Usio provides payment-facilitator services, credit card processing, automated clearing house payments, prepaid card …
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