Mastercard Inc. executives are paying close attention to a new proposal in the U.S. Congress that could alter merchant choice in routing credit card payments. Concurrently, its earnings are riding the crest of a wave that includes consumer spending and the resurgence in travel. A bipartisan bill sponsored by senators Richard …

A whopping 2,276 more grocery stores soon will accept electronic benefits transfer payments for online grocery shopping. In one move, Albertsons Cos., parent of Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Vons, and Pavilions stores, said the payment option is now available across its stores. Albertsons said more of its 22 brands will add …

The proliferation of plug-and-play software has revolutionized the computing experience, mostly for good. But bad actors, too, are able to take advantage of the plug-and-play experience and purchase malware kits that require little to no coding expertise, which can retail for less than $10, according to a new report from …

Apple Inc.’s long awaited tap-to-pay on iPhone technology is now live with Adyen NV merchants Vince, Burton, G-Star, and Scotch & Soda. The technology enables merchants to accept face-to-face payments using iPhones without special point-of-sale acceptance hardware. Consumers can use almost any near-field communication-enabled device, such as another iPhone, Apple …

Transit riders have made one aspect of their mobility routines abundantly clear. They want to use contactless payments to pay as they commute to work or ride to the beach. A full 91% of transit users in the second Future of Urban Mobility Survey from Visa Inc. either strongly or …

In-store sales growth continued to outpace that of online shopping in June, though e-commerce sales may get a big boost next week. According to the Mastercard Inc. SpendingPulse report, in-store sales increased 11.7% last month over June 2021, and were up 10.7% from June 2019. And, while e-commerce sales experienced …

The steep drop in the value of Bitcoin made itself felt Tuesday at Coinbase when the crypto exchange’s boss announced an 18% cut in its workforce. The 10-year-old company had more than 4,900 employees, according to its Web site. That’s about 880 employees affected by the layoff, though some reports …

Mastercard Inc. says the future of payments at the point of sale includes the ability to make a point-of-sale payment using a facial image without having to present a credit or debit card or a mobile device. Under its new Biometric Checkout Program, Mastercard has begun testing the service, the …

As the U.S. economy moves farther from the worst of the Covid pandemic, credit and debit card spending may be stabilizing, according to new data from The Strawhecker Group, a payments advisory and research firm. Released as part of the AIM Headline Report series, the Growth & Inflation Analysis 2022 …

There’s a bit of apparent good news when it comes to chargebacks. The chargeback-to-transaction ratio decreased from 1.94% in 2020 to 1.52% in 2021, and is also down from the remarkable 3.76% seen in 2017. That’s according to the fourth annual “The Year in Chargebacks Report” from Midigator LLC, a …