Monday , January 20, 2025

John Stewart

Starting as an editor on Bank Network News at Faulkner & Gray, John ultimately played a key role in starting, editing, and publishing many of F&G's flagship publications, including Credit Card Management, Card Technology, Card Marketing, and Collections & Credit Risk. Before co-founding Boland Hill Media, John was a group publisher at Thomson Media responsible for a $10 million division embracing magazines, newsletters, and Web sites.

Fiserv Bulks up in Integrated Payments With a Deal for Pineapple Payments

Fiserv Inc. is adding more muscle to its payments-processing business, particularly with respect to integrated payments and relationships with independent software vendors. The big financial-services technology company announced Thursday afternoon it has agreed to acquire Pineapple Payments, a 5-year-old payments processor, for undisclosed terms. The deal is expected to close …

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A Reported SEC Probe Casts a Spotlight on the Fast-Growing SPAC Trend

Photo by Rick Tap on Unsplash

News late Wednesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is inquiring into a newly popular alternative for going public comes as payments firms increasingly turn to the method in lieu of a traditional public offering. Reuters reported late Thursday the SEC is contacting Wall Street financial institutions to ask …

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Major Brands Lag on Mobile Acceptance Despite a Drive for Contactless, a Study Finds

After the pandemic struck a year ago, stores scrambled to install technology to support a wide range of payment options, including tap-and-pay, to reassure skittish consumers. But now a new report indicates those efforts may not have gone as far as many have assumed, particularly in the area of contactless …

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A DoJ Investigation of Visa Is the Latest Chapter in a Long History of Probes Into Network Policies

The news that the U.S. Department of Justice is probing debit card routing practices at Visa Inc. follows on a long history of such investigations and could portend a more serious attitude by regulators to address longstanding merchant complaints about network routing and pricing. “This is one more heavy step …

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Citcon Seeks to Smooth the Way for U.S. Online Sellers to Reach E-Wallets Overseas

Citcon USA LLC is looking to connect U.S. e-commerce merchants with an array of digital wallets used by consumers in Latin America and Southeast Asia. The San Jose, Calif.-based company said late Thursday a single integration will enable transactions on more than 100 wallets used by consumers from a diverse …

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Sports Betting Offers Processors a Rapidly Growing Opportunity As States Sign on

With 21 states having legalized sports betting in one form or another, major payments processors sense a growing opportunity. The latest development comes from Virginia, where Nuvei Corp. said Wednesday a subsidiary has been granted a sports-betting vendor registration by the Virginia Lottery. “The company can now offer its innovative payment …

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The Economy Got Suddenly Closer to Cashless Commerce in the Past Year, a Square Study Shows

Three years’ worth of movement away from cash in the United States has taken place in just 12 months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to estimates in a report released Tuesday by Square Inc. “It’s not to say we’re ditching cash entirely any time soon, but the …

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The Architect of Debit Price Caps Attacks Visa And Mastercard for Planned Credit Card Hikes

The U.S. Senator who gave his name nearly a decade ago to a law that caps debit card interchange made it plain Thursday he now has the rates merchants pay for credit card acceptance squarely in his sights. Commenting during a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he heads, …

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Exploding Online Business Helps Fuel ‘Strongest Growth’ in Nuvei’s History

With the first anniversary of the coronavirus crisis having been reached in the United States, payments processors are reporting strong results as consumers shift to e-commerce, many for the first time. The latest is Nuvei Corp., which on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter results that reflected what the 18-year-old processor called “the …

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How the Pandemic Helped Drive a Startling Increase in Identity Theft Losses

Some 47% of U.S. adults have reported identity theft over the past two years, while the fraud’s toll ballooned to $712.4 billion in 2020, up 42% from 2019, according to a report released Tuesday by Aite Group, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, and sponsored by Giact, an Allen, Texas-based …

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