Samsung Pay launched in South Korea three years ago Monday, and on Tuesday Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. marked the anniversary by releasing some numbers for the mobile-payments platform. Widely known as one of three “Pays” that rely on near-field communication technology for in-store transactions (Apple Pay and Google Pay are …
Read More »A Startup Opens a Concept Store to Compete With Amazon in Ditching Checkout Lanes
Amazon.com Inc. may not have a lock on the concept of a checkout-free store. A San Francisco-based startup company called Zippin said on Monday it has opened a store that lets consumers walk in, pick up the items they want to buy, and simply walk out. Zippin’s technology tracks what …
Read More »Ripple Signs Three Exchanges to Support Cross-Border Payments As Pilots Near Completion
Distributed-ledger payments provider Ripple Labs on Thursday announced three cryptocurrency exchanges that will work with its xRapid cross-border payments product. XRapid uses Ripple’s XRP digital currency and depends on exchanges to translate transactions into local fiat currencies. San Francisco-based Ripple said it is partnering with Bittrex for exchanges to U.S. …
Read More »With Fast-Growing Fintechs Taking a Toll, Banks Will Soon Claim Less Than 50% of Payments Revenue
Financial institutions have been battling fast-growing fintechs and other nonbanks for payments share and revenue for years, but now new research indicates banks, which have historically controlled this crucial business, are on the cusp of slipping from that dominant perch. In 2017, U.S. banks’ total payments revenue netted out to …
Read More »Eye on Crypto: Square Takes Bitcoin to 50 States; A Former Top Visa Exec Touts Easier Transfers
Users of Square Inc.’s Cash App can now buy and sell Bitcoin in all states, according to a tweet the company sent at mid-day Monday. The Bitcoin capability, which Square introduced in November as a pilot, is hardly a major business for the San Francisco-based payments company, but it is starting …
Read More »Commanding 92% of the Home Market, It’s No Wonder Chinese Mobile Giants Are Looking Abroad
One reason China’s Ant Financial Services Group and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are interested in facilitating mobile payments for Chinese travelers in foreign markets, including the United States, is that both companies are topping out in their home market. Combined, Ant’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay controlled an estimated $15.5 trillion …
Read More »Following Mastercard’s Crypto Patent, Intuit Wins One for Bitcoin Transfers Via Text Messages
Bitcoin’s volatility may have dampened the payments industry’s enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency, but payments players are now reaping patent awards for Bitcoin-related inventions they filed years ago. The latest example is Intuit Inc., the Mountain View, Calif.-based company behind the popular Quicken and QuickBooks accounting programs for consumers and small …
Read More »Worldpay Finishes First Full Quarter of Combined Operations With $1 Billion in Revenue
Having completed its first full quarter of operation on June 30, Worldpay Inc. on Thursday reported just over $1 billion in net revenue for the period from business lines that include merchant processing, technology services, and card-issuer support. That’s up 11% from what Vantiv Inc. and Worldpay Group plc would …
Read More »From Spear Phishing to POS Malware, a Security Expert Lays Out His Six Most Worrisome Threats
Malicious attacks on payments systems come in a bewildering array of shapes and sizes, making it a nettlesome problem figuring out which types of attack require the most defensive resources. Yet, the stakes could be highest in the United States, where the average cost per breach, at $225, is one …
Read More »Microsoft Integrates Microsoft Pay With Masterpass In Its Latest Bid to Enhance the Wallet
Microsoft Corp. continues to make enhancements to Microsoft Pay in a highly competitive market for digital wallets. This week, the computing giant said Microsoft Pay has been integrated with Masterpass, the online wallet from Mastercard Inc. that lets consumers pay with stored credentials from a variety of payment providers. “We …
Read More »