Contactless fare payments are still booming on London’s massive public-transportation network, but it’s a different story in the United States despite years of talk and testing. The latest figures from Transport for London, the agency that oversees the United Kingdom capital city’s subways and buses, show an average of 1.48 …
Read More »Dual-Message Interchange for Regulated Debit Card Issuers Declined in 2017, the Fed Reports
Interchange on debit card transactions has changed relatively little in the nearly seven years since the Durbin Amendment to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act took effect, but a Federal Reserve report notes one small but interesting recent change. The average interchange fee in 2017 for dual-message transactions on debit cards regulated …
Read More »First Data Extends Critical Wells Fargo Merchant Joint Venture Through 2024
Payment processor First Data Corp. reported late Wednesday that it has extended its joint venture with Wells Fargo & Co.’s Wells Fargo Bank, which is one of the nation’s largest merchant acquirers and an important contributor to First Data’s payment volume and profits, until the end of 2024. Wells Fargo …
Read More »Proposed Tariffs on Chinese Goods Draw More Opposition From the Payments Industry
The escalating U.S.-China trade war is generating calls for a truce from the payments industry. Most recently, the ATM Industry Association announced its opposition to planned U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, calling them a “threat to business.” ATMIA members are expected to testify at a tariff hearing next week in …
Read More »Kroger’s California Boycott of Visa Credit Cards Begins as the Grocer Mulls a Possible Expansion
The boycott of Visa credit cards by The Kroger Co.’s Foods Co chain in central and northern California began Tuesday as planned, but the parent company still won’t say whether the boycott will be expanded to its many other units. Citing what it calls high costs to accept Visa credit …
Read More »KKR To Reduce Its Stake in First Data Through a Secondary Stock Offering, But Will Still Retain Voting Control
With First Data Corp.’s stock on the rise, KKR & Co. Inc., the investment firm that controls most of the payment processor’s voting shares, is planning a secondary stock offering that will reduce its stake but still leave it firmly in control. First Data announced Monday that an affiliate of …
Read More »Canada’s Credit Card Interchange Is Going Down, But Will It Make Much of a Difference?
The Department of Finance Canada on Thursday issued its latest merchant-friendly announcement regarding payment cards, this one disclosing agreements with Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. for an average 10-basis-point reduction in credit card interchange for small and mid-size businesses to take effect in 2020. The department also said American Express …
Read More »With Some Fast-Growing Programs, Green Dot Hopes Its BaaS Becomes a Whale
Green Dot Corp. executives played up their “banking-as-a-service” platform Wednesday as the company reported strong second-quarter growth in most of its business lines, but they said little about the support they provide for Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay Cash service. Pasadena, Calif.-based Green Dot supplies the virtual prepaid card that customers …
Read More »Fresh From Its IPO, EVO Payments Looks for Expansion Opportunities Abroad
EVO Payments Inc. is hunting for new international markets as it continues to see growth in its U.S.-based business with independent software vendors, company executives said Wednesday during the merchant processor’s first earnings conference call as a public company. Founded in 1989 as an independent sales organization, Atlanta-based EVO in …
Read More »Eye on Data: Site Linked to the ICBA’s Bank Leaks Data; Report Says Facebook Wants To Display Card Transactions
A Web-site glitch involving The Independent Community Bankers of America’s bank subsidiary exposed personal data about thousands of credit card applicants for more than a year, according to a report. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that social-media titan Facebook Inc. has asked some of the nation’s largest …
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