A key business for international card companies is cross-border travel, which took a big hit with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic early in 2020. But now it appears that business is staging a comeback. Mastercard Inc. reported Thursday its cross-border volume in March climbed above numbers last seen in …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s top management made it plain late Wednesday they’re not backing down from a strategy they outlined three months ago that made it seem the payments giant was abandoning an emphasis on sheer growth in favor of increased user engagement . That impression disappointed analysts who follow the …

Fiserv Inc. in recent years hasn’t been shy about entering new businesses, and now the company is preparing for an expansion of its stake in a market that has picked up considerable momentum in recent years: the data management that lies at the foundation of such operations as open banking. …

A year ago, you might have heard payments-network bigwigs complaining about the pandemic’s impact on revenues and volumes. Now, not so much. But, late Tuesday, Visa Inc. indicated it has been hit by a fresh development—Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That war, which began Feb. 24, trimmed 4 percentage points off …

With the expected introduction by the Federal Reserve next year of a commercial real-time payments platform for the United States, total instant payments in the U.S. market will rise nearly five-fold, to 8.9 billion, by 2026. That’s up from 1.8 billion last year. The dollar volume on these transactions will …

Apple Inc. is switching its network affiliation for its Apple Pay Cash virtual debit card to Visa Inc. after more than four years of issuing the card on the Discover Network. Information about the rationale for the move was not immediately available as the news emerged late last week on …

American Express Co. reported a strong first quarter early Friday that betokens a return to pre-pandemic performance for the company, though it also confronts questions stemming from emerging inflation and the threat of recession. AmEx reported overall spending in its crucial travel-and-entertainment business in March reached 99% of the total …

The competition to bring digital-payments capability to sports arenas is getting hotter. FIS Inc. announced early Thursday its Worldpay unit is exclusively processing payments for tickets, concessions, and merchandise at Washington D.C.’s Nationals Park, home of the city’s Nationals Major League Baseball team. As part of the deal, Jacksonville, Fla.-based …

The hospitality industry continues to heat up as a market for digital-payments processing and technology, attracting established players and startups alike. Early Tuesday, GoTab Inc. said it is working with business-software firm PaySuite to sell its services to restaurants in the Pacific Northwest.  The first installation is a food hall …

One of the country’s biggest merchant associations on Monday joined a growing chorus of voices arguing fee increases planned by the major card networks for this month will exacerbate inflation. “American consumers are struggling under the worst inflation in four decades, and these increases would only make the situation worse,” …