The NFC Forum, a standards body for companies developing and using near-field communication contactless technology, on Thursday announced a so-called “device class” for wearable devices aimed at increasing the use of such technology. The new Card Emulation Device Class is the first of its kind, the Wakefield, Mass.-based organization said. …

Network volumes and interchange revenues posted hefty increases at American Express Co. in the second quarter as consumers and businesses spent more while a recovery continues from the Covid-19 pandemic that hit two years ago. AmEx reported Friday that its network volumes totaled $394.8 billion in the quarter ending June …

Discover Financial Services saw its overall dollar volume increase 10% year-over-year in the second quarter despite a flat performance by Discover’s Pulse debit network. Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover said late Wednesday that total payment volume in the quarter ended June 30 was $138.7 billion versus $125.6 billion in the year-earlier period. …

NCR Corp., a publicly traded banking and payments equipment manufacturer and software provider, could go private if rumors of a pending leveraged buyout prove true. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that NCR was in exclusive talks with the private-equity firm Veritas Capital about a possible acquisition. The report noted …

In a move to streamline money movement and financial account openings for consumers, open-banking network MX Technologies Inc. on Tuesday unveiled what it calls MXapi Processor Tokens. MX enables fintechs to access consumer financial data, and helps its clients turn raw data into usable form. Token-based application programming interfaces (APIs) …

Five years after its launch, the Zelle person-to-person payments service continues to boost payment volumes for one of its founders, Bank of America Corp. BofA reported Monday that its second-quarter P2P Zelle transaction volume hit 239 million, up 26% from 189 million payments a year earlier. The value of the …

Fresh off the introduction of its buy now, pay later product, the big private-label and cobranded credit card issuer Synchrony Financial on Monday reported that strong consumer spending in the second quarter boosted its purchase volumes and interchange income. Stamford, Conn.-based Synchrony said total purchase volume hit $47.2 billion for …

Merchant processor Electronic Merchant Systems announced Thursday that it has taken a majority stake in Paysley, a contactless payments software specialist that enables merchants to send payment requests and QR codes to customers’ mobile phones. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but EMS chief executive Dan Neistadt tells Digital Transactions …

In a diversification move, business-to-business payments provider Fleetcor Technologies Inc. reported Thursday it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Global Reach Group, a London-based cross-border payments provider. Terms of the deal were not announced, and a Fleetcor spokesperson could not be reached for comment Friday. Atlanta-based Fleetcor expects the …

Almost eight years after it launched the Apple Pay mobile-payment service, Apple Inc.’s purported move to bring some of its payment-processing and financial-services operations in-house once again could shake up the payments industry. Just how, though, is a big unknown at the moment. Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple is not commenting on …