Merchant processor and business-software provider Square Inc. says some of its sellers have seen declines of 45% in payment volume in recent days, and private-label and cobranded card issuer Alliance Data Systems Corp. says business at its client merchants is softening. Both companies held conference calls with analysts after the …
Read More »Bridge, Tollway Authorities Toss Cash Acceptance Overboard, But Canadian Central Bank Urges Otherwise
Cash is fighting an uphill battle to remain a payment option during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Over the past week, a number of toll-highway and bridge authorities have ceased accepting cash to limit the spread of the highly infectious disease. According to local press reports, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Illinois …
Read More »Womply Data Show How the Coronavirus Has KO’d Many Merchants
New findings from a software and business-services provider that examined what happened at thousands of small businesses last week show the damage the coronavirus, or Covid-19, is inflicting on merchants. San Francisco-based Oto Analytics Inc., which does business as Womply, looked at payment card data from its merchant-acquiring partners, data …
Read More »Familiar Names Dominate New Rankings of U.S. Merchant Acquirers, With Chase Retaining the Lead
JPMorgan Chase & Co. led U.S. merchant acquirers last year with $1.51 trillion in dollar volume processed, according to new industry rankings announced Wednesday by The Strawhecker Group. Long a powerhouse in acquiring, Chase led 2018’s rankings with $1.4 trillion in volume. Retaining second place last year was Worldpay, with …
Read More »American Express Expects Revenue Hit From Expanding Coronavirus Impacts
With the nation hunkering down to slow the spread of Covid-19, American Express Co. said Tuesday it expects its first-quarter revenues, adjusted for currency fluctuations, to grow only 2% to 4% year-over-year. In contrast, AmEx’s revenues net of interest expense rose 7% to $10.4 billion in 2019’s first quarter. In …
Read More »The Coronavirus Is Likely To Hit Payment Firms’ Volumes And Profits, But Just How Hard Is Unknown
So, how much will Covid-19 have affected payment card dollar and transaction volumes when the card networks and merchant processors report their first-quarter financials beginning in about a month? At this point, it’s way too early to tell. An early read might come Tuesday when American Express Co. is scheduled …
Read More »Eye on Covid-19: Payments Providers Hunker Down As an ATM Group Decries ‘The Scapegoating of Cash’
The electronic-payments industry is settling into a ride-it-out mode as panic selling resumed Thursday on Wall Street over the coronavirus, now deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened down 1,700 points, and most payments stocks went over the cliff with it. In late-morning …
Read More »Ex-Twitter Execs Join a $50 Million Funding Round for Payment And Software Provider SpotOn
Fast-growing payment technology and software provider SpotOn Transact Inc. said Wednesday that it raised $50 million in a Series B funding round that included 01 Advisors, an investment firm led by three former Twitter Inc. executives. SpotOn, which says its revenues increased by more than 150% in 2019, will use …
Read More »Dual-Interface Chip Card Sales Lift CPI Card Group
As the payments industry reeled Monday morning during yet another wild session on Wall Street, card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. provided a glimmer of hopeful news when it reported improving financials thanks in part to growing sales of dual-interface cards. Littleton, Colo. based CPI said fourth-quarter sales in its …
Read More »USA Technologies’ Proxy Puts Three of Its Challenger’s Director Nominees on Its Own Slate
Annual stockholder meetings usually are staid affairs involving such exciting matters as appointing a company’s auditing firm, but the upcoming meeting for vending machine payments provider USA Technologies Inc. could be a real barn burner. The months-long battle between Malvern, Pa.-based USAT’s management and board on the one side and …
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