The story of debit cards in the pandemic year of 2020 turns out to have several chapters—including higher average tickets, a sharp swing to card-not-present usage, a dramatic surge in contactless adoption, and higher mobile-wallet usage. Meanwhile, account-to-account transfers turned out to be the fastest-growing form of debit, though usage …

Open banking has been a big trend in payments for some time, and now traditional payment processors are getting in on the action. Paysafe Group Holdings Ltd. early on Monday announced it has agreed to pay $441 million to acquire Miami-based SafetyPay, a 15-year-old provider of digital payments for cash-paying …

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday lent its weight to a proposed rule from the Federal Reserve Board that would reinforce merchants’ choice of networks for e-commerce transactions arising from debit cards. At the same time, it suggested the rule could be made more stringent. Justice’s support for the …

With a Federal Reserve deadline hitting Wednesday for comments on decade-old debit card regulations, large merchants are firing some last-minute salvos in hopes of influencing the Fed to make major revisions to rules governing transaction routing and pricing. “[M]ajor banks and networks continue to interfere with competition for debit business,” …

With credit card acceptance rates expected to rise next spring, payments-technology firms are starting to launch services for merchants that they say will soften the blow. The latest comes in the automobile-repair industry with an announcement Tuesday by Facepay Inc. of general availability of a service aimed at replacing credit …

Paya Holdings Inc. hasn’t let up on its search for growth via acquisitions as it plays to its strengths in integrated payments and automated clearing house processing.  The Reston, Va.-based company reported early Friday a record-high $10.7 billion in payment volume for the first quarter, a number that doesn’t include …

Top executives at Shift4 Payments Inc. said early Thursday the company will launch general availability of a new restaurant platform in the first quarter of next year. The Android-based technology will include a Quick Response-code payments option as well as capabilities for analytics, marketing, payroll, and other features, according to …

Led by robust growth in its merchant-processing unit, FIS Inc. Tuesday morning heralded a strong second quarter, with record sales and with momentum continuing deeper into the summer, according to the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company’s top executives.  Speaking to equity analysts to discuss the company’s second-quarter results, management also outlined a …

Global Payments Inc. early Monday announced it will make its Netspend prepaid card services available via Amazon Web Services. While reporting a strong performance for the June quarter, the Atlanta-based processing company also said it is acquiring from Spain’s Caixabank the payments businesses of the bank’s Bankia unit.  The move …

As they have for rival Visa Inc., transaction volumes are continuing to improve for Mastercard Inc. as world commerce stages its recovery from the impact of the pandemic. “The strong momentum we started the year with accelerated this quarter,” chief executive Michael Miebach said Thursday morning during a session with …