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 …
Read More »Discover Veteran Hochschild to Succeed Nelms as CEO
Discover Financial Services announced Friday that its No. 2 executive, president and chief operating officer Roger C. Hochschild, will become chief executive on Oct. 1, succeeding long-time chairman and CEO David W. Nelms. Nelms, 57, Discover’s CEO since February 2004, will become executive chairman at that time before retiring in …
Read More »Global Payments To Buy Medical Software Provider AdvancedMD for $700 Million
Furthering its reach into software services for card-accepting merchants, Global Payments Inc. announced Thursday that it has a deal to buy AdvancedMD Inc., a software-as-a-service provider for 33,000 doctors and 11,000 practices, from Marlin Equity Partners for $700 million in cash. The announcement came as Atlanta-based Global Payments reported second-quarter …
Read More »Diebold Nixdorf Shares Plunge 34% in Wake of Loss and Worsened Outlook
Shares of Diebold Nixdorf Inc. plummeted 34% in late Wednesday morning trading after the ATM manufacturer and banking and retail hardware and software provider reported an unexpectedly large second-quarter loss and said it is looking to revise its lending agreements in the face of lowered financial predictions. “While revenue was …
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