Same-day transaction processing on the automated clearing house network will turn five years old this month, and while that may provide one reason for participants to celebrate, network governor Nacha issued another one Wednesday morning: both same-day transactions and same-day dollar volume are soaring. Transactions totaled 148.7 million in the …
Read More »The Delta Variant’s Shadow Hangs Over a Promising Recovery by the Nation’s Restaurant Industry
The emergence earlier this year of a virulent new coronavirus variant “threatens to reverse the gains made in the first six months of the year” by the U.S. restaurant industry, according to data released Tuesday by the National Restaurant Association. The news comes as eateries have adopted contactless forms of …
Read More »BNPL Lands a Whale As Affirm Adds Amazon for Installment Payments
Buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Inc. late Friday announced it had clinched the e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. as a client, securing a source of enormous volume and sending its stock soaring Monday morning. The news follows the enablement in May of Affirm’s service for hundreds of thousands of U.S. merchants …
Read More »A Settlement Will Allow App Store Developers to Offer Payment Options Beyond Apple
Apple Inc. will permit developers of applications for its App Store to tell customers by email that they can pay for products and services by means other than Apple’s own payment platform, according to a preliminary settlement announced Thursday. The settlement apparently will let developers skirt what are said to …
Read More »Stablecoins Join International Relief Efforts As Circle’s Platform Backs Aid Distribution
Stablecoins are coming to international disaster aid with the announcement Thursday that Ireland-based AID:Tech, a 5-year-old financial-services company specializing in relief distribution around the world, will work with Circle Internet Financial LLC to distribute aid via USD Coin, whose value is tied to the U.S. dollar. “Collaborating with AID:Tech to …
Read More »Card Spending Surges in the Wake of Covid-Induced Shifts in Consumer Behavior
Out of the gloom surrounding the U.S. economy since the onset of Covid-19 comes a report that consumer spending on credit and debit cards is not only robust, but also stronger than it was even two years ago. Dollar volume on payment cards in July was 21% higher than in …
Read More »Fiserv Expands Vending Operations Across Europe in a Deal With Operator Selecta
Fiserv Inc. is rolling out payment-acceptance technology to food-and-beverage vending machines in multiple markets across Europe in a move that supports mobile wallets as well as global and local payment cards. Selecta Group, operator of the machines, says its network supports devices in 16 countries selling snacks, meals, and coffee …
Read More »An Acquisitive Paysafe Strikes a Deal to Acquire viafintech, a German Payments Provider
Fresh off a pair of acquisitions in the Latin American market, Paysafe Group Holdings Ltd. over the weekend announced a major move into the European Continent with a deal to acquire viafintech, a neobank and payments provider based in Berlin, in an all-cash transaction. Terms were not announced. The deal …
Read More »E-Commerce Loses Some Momentum As Sales Slowed Down in the Latest Quarter
The boom in e-commerce, which was touched off more than a year ago by the coronavirus pandemic, may be showing signs of losing steam. U.S. e-commerce sales in the second quarter totaled $222.5 billion, up 9.1% from the same quarter a year ago, according to numbers released Thursday by the …
Read More »Mastercard’s Credit Card Fees Find Themselves in the Cross-Hairs of a U.K. Class Action
While the two global payments networks have been embroiled in a controversy over merchant debit card fees in the U.S. market, they also face trouble in the United Kingdom over an even bigger issue: credit card interchange fees. That fact was thrown into relief early Thursday when Reuters reported the …
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