Two powerful forces for making contactless cards a routine feature of daily life are acceptance by mass-transit systems and backing from the biggest issuers. On Wednesday, that combination came into focus with an announcement from Visa Inc. that starting May 31 users of the 20 million contactless credit cards JPMorgan …
Read More »Cash Proves Resilient Even As Regulation to Ban Cashless Stores Builds Steam
With momentum building to ban cashless stores, a rough consensus seems to be emerging that the United States will never have the cashless society futurists have predicted for decades as first cards, then e-commerce, and now mobile payments took root. To be sure, research released Tuesday by Square Inc. shows …
Read More »Are Digital Payments Killing ATMs? Some Researchers Say Yes, But the Debate Isn’t Closed
A report that emerged over the weekend showing a first-ever drop in the ATM count in four of the five largest ATM markets has lent new urgency to the debate over whether electronic payment methods are killing cash—and hence cash dispensers. The report, from London-based RBR, says the number of …
Read More »TCH Says Avidia Bank Is Just the First Smaller Bank Lining up For Real-Time Payments
The real-time payments network built by The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC is often viewed as a creature of the big banks, including the ones that own and control TCH, but on Friday it became clear that some of the nation’s smallest financial institutions are ready to sign up for …
Read More »A New Survey Casts Doubt on the Idea That Contactless Cards Will Trigger More Mobile Payments
Conventional wisdom in the payments business has been that the advent and spread of contactless cards would pave the way for wider use of mobile payments. But research released this week indicates that may not be the case. Indeed, far from serving as the training wheels for mobile payments, new …
Read More »Grocery, an Online Laggard, Is Perking up Fast, Though Most Users Still Buy Little
Of all e-commerce markets, grocery has long lagged behind in consumer adoption. But now there are signs that may be changing fast. In the year since early 2018, the proportion of U.S. consumers who had bought groceries online in the prior 12 months jumped from 23.1% to 36.8%, according to …
Read More »PayByCar Allies With P97 on a Pilot for Gas Purchases Using E-ZPass Toll Tags
A system that allows drivers to pay for gasoline at the pump using their E-ZPass toll tag took a step forward Monday with an announcement that P97 Networks Inc., a provider of in-vehicle payments services, will resell the PayByCar service from Verdeva Inc. Houston-based P97 says it has certified PayByCar …
Read More »Green Dot’s Shares Tumble After Management Announces a $60-Million Plan
Green Dot Corp. saw its shares plummet Thursday morning after its chief executive late Wednesday surprised stock analysts with a plan to invest $60 million later this year in initiatives aimed at expanding the company’s reach into new markets for banking services. At mid-morning, the Pasadena, Calif.-based payments company was …
Read More »As Estep Opts for Retirement, Larimer Will Take Over As NACHA CEO in July
Long-time NACHA president and chief executive Jan Estep will cede that role July 1 to chief operating officer Jane Larimer, the organization announced Monday. Estep will formally retire at the end of the year, NACHA said, following a confidential process she set in motion late in 2018 with NACHA’s board …
Read More »As Discover Found Out, Some Cash Rewards Will Bite Harder Than Others
Merchants and card issuers long ago discovered the value of cash in driving transaction volume, but on Thursday Discover Financial Services demonstrated how expensive some rewards categories can be. Discover reported $677 million in discount and interchange revenue for the first quarter, up 5% from the same quarter last year. …
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