The decline of checks over recent decades is a well-known story, but there were still 14.5 billion check payments in 2018, according to Federal Reserve research. So just who’s still writing checks, and for what kinds of payments? “All things being equal, older, low-income, non-minority group members are more likely …
Read More »WEX’s Benefits and Corporate-Services Units Growing Faster Than Fleet Services
Best known for its big fleet-fueling card business, WEX Inc. lately is getting stronger growth from its two other segments, health-care and employee benefits and corporate and travel services. WEX reported Thursday that total fourth-quarter purchase volume grew 8.4% to $20.1 billion from $18.5 billion a year earlier. Portland, Maine-based …
Read More »Repay Expands Its Footprint with Ventanex Acquisition
Payment-services provider Repay Holdings Corp. continued its run of acquisitions Monday when it announced it bought Ventanex for up to $50 million. Ventanex is an integrated-payments provider operating in consumer finance, especially mortgage-loan servicing, business-to-business health-care payments, and some other segments. Founded in 2012 and based in the Dallas suburb …
Read More »Brink’s Makes a Significant Investment in MoneyGram
MoneyGram International Inc. is proving adept at attracting diverse investors. Cash-management provider The Brink’s Co. announced Thursday that it has invested $9 million in MoneyGram stock for a 4.95% stake in the company. The Brink’s investment comes in the wake of the $50 million Ripple Labs Inc., developer of the …
Read More »Report: Changes in Visa’s Interchange Rate Schedule Coming This Year
Visa Inc. reportedly is planning interchange rate changes that could raise merchants’ acceptance costs for card-not-present transactions but lower costs in some other categories, including purchases at big grocery-store chains. Citing a Visa document circulating among the network’s client banks, the Bloomberg news service reported Tuesday that interchange for a …
Read More »ACH Transactions Rose 8% in 2019 While Payment Value Increased 9%
The value of payments on the automated clearing house network grew by more than $1 trillion in 2019 for the seventh straight year and transactions increased by more than 1 billion for the fifth consecutive year, ACH governing body Nacha reported Monday. Total payments came to 24.7 billion transactions, up …
Read More »Visa Gets a Lift From E-Commerce, Contactless Payments, and Tokenization
Improved online payments, tokenization, and contactless transactions all gained ground in 2019’s last three months for Visa Inc. as the network’s payment volume grew 8% year-over-year. Visa reported total U.S. payment volume of $1.06 trillion in its first quarter of fiscal 2020 ended Dec. 31, a 7.8% increase from $980 …
Read More »Mastercard Reports Strong Volume Growth, but Is Keeping an Eye on the Coronavirus
Mastercard Inc. on Wednesday reported double-digit growth in fourth-quarter purchase volume and transactions, but reduced economic activity from the Coronavirus that originated in China could put a crimp on growth early this year. “We’ll take this as it comes, one step at a time,” Mastercard chief executive Ajay Banga said …
Read More »The Apple Card Boosts iPhone Sales While Apple Pay Heads Toward 15 Billion Transactions
The Apple Pay mobile-payments service is generating 15 billion transactions a year, and Apple Inc.’s new Apple Card helped lift sales of the company’s flagship product, the iPhone, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said Tuesday. “For Apple Pay, revenue and transactions more than doubled year-over-year, with a run rate exceeding …
Read More »Despite Increasing Adoption, There’s Room for Improvement in Mobile Deposits, Study Finds
Mobile remote deposit capture has made big gains in recent years, but there’s still room to improve the service, according to new survey findings. Deficiencies in financial institutions’ mobile-capture offerings include error identification and tracking, unclear notices of funds availability, and overly restrictive risk-control policies, according to Ron Shevlin, director …
Read More »