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 …

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 …

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” …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Card-acceptance costs and network rules weren’t the only subjects covered by the sweeping settlement revealed Tuesday involving Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and lawyers for the merchants that sued them. The pending agreement, which needs approval from a federal judge, allows for the creation of so-called merchant buying groups that would …

Merchant lawsuits challenging credit card interchange and payment card network rules that began nearly two decades ago may finally be heading for resolution under a landmark settlement announced Tuesday by Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., and lawyers for the merchants. Merchant lawyers in the massive case estimate the settlement could save …