Ouch. Merchant acquirer Square Inc. reported after Thursday’s market close that payment volume grew 45% year over year in the first quarter to $10.3 billion, but the company’s stock still fell 22% on Friday. Despite the strong payments growth, investors didn’t like a number of things they saw in San …
Read More »Square’s Payment Volume Jumps 45%, but Growth Measures Cause Loss To Widen
Boosted by a 45% increase in payment volume to $10.3 billion, Square Inc.’s adjusted revenues jumped 64% in the first quarter, but the merchant processor’s net loss doubled to $96.8 million on higher expenses as the company continued to invest like a startup for future growth. In its second earnings …
Read More »Bitcoin Processor BitPay Introduces a Prepaid Visa Card
BitPay Inc. made its name signing up merchants to accept the bitcoin digital currency, and now it’s adding a reloadable Visa prepaid card to its consumer-facing products. The card will enable users to make purchases at the millions of Visa-accepting merchants as well as the relative handful that accept bitcoin, …
Read More »Green Dot Reports Mixed Results, but CEO Streit Says Prospects Are Improving
With its contested annual shareholder meeting coming up in less than three weeks, embattled Green Dot Corp. chief executive Steve Streit on Wednesday said the prepaid card card and mobile-banking provider and tax-payment processor’s prospects are improving as key measures of customer activity strengthen. Pasadena, Calif.-based Green Dot reported first-quarter …
Read More »ATM Operator Cardtronics Plans To Reincorporate in the United Kingdom
For Houston-based Cardtronics Inc., Europe is the new land of opportunity, so much so that the leading ATM network owner and operator plans to “redomicile” in the United Kingdom. The move is likely to cut the company’s tax rate, possibly by half, but Cardtronics says that’s just one of several …
Read More »MasterCard’s Processed Transactions Grow at Their Highest Rate Since Mid-2013
MasterCard Inc. in the three months ending March 31 posted its biggest increase in processed transactions in two-and-a-half years, thanks to strong U.S. volumes and growth in many, if not all, other markets. The No. 2 payment card network Thursday reported its processed transactions totaled 12.6 billion in the first …
Read More »Financial Executives Worry About More Fraud With Same-Day ACH
The coming of same-day settlement of automated clearing house transactions to the U.S. next September has many bank and credit-union executives excited about the prospect of faster payments. But fears about more fraud are rising, too. A recent survey of approximately 60 financial institutions by New York City-based fraud-control firm …
Read More »Attrition Among Profitable Small Businesses Takes a Toll on First Data’s Merchant Unit
Despite 7% transaction growth, First Data Corp. on Monday reported that revenue in the company’s North American merchant-processing business declined 2% in the first quarter. In an early-morning conference call with analysts, First Data executives several times blamed attrition among small and mid-sized North American businesses, or SMBs, in its …
Read More »Eye on Charge Volume: Pulse’s Volume Slips 15%; U.S. Bank’s Merchant Income Rises
Total charge volume on Discover Financial Services’s networks fell 5% in the first quarter thanks to a 15% drop at the Discover-owned Pulse electronic funds transfer network. But U.S. Bancorp, which owns the big merchant acquirer Elavon, says its merchant-processing revenue increased 4% due to higher transaction volumes and sales …
Read More »Eye on Acquiring: Cayan’s New Terminal for Small Merchants; VeriFone-Revel Integration
Merchant processor Cayan on Monday unveiled a new point-of-sale system for small and mid-sized businesses that want high-tech capabilities without the costs and hassles of managing integrated POS systems like those used by national retailers. Global POS terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc., meanwhile, announced the integration of its Verifone Point …
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