JPMorgan Chase & Co. will within a few months begin testing its own cryptocurrency for wholesale payments between corporations and banks globally, according to CNBC. The new token, called JPM Coin, will be exchangeable at the rate of $1 each. The development may surprise some observers, given the harsh criticism …
Read More »Mastercard’s Melody and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/8/19
Mastercard Inc. introduced a so-called sonic brand identity, including a melody that will play when users deploy Mastercard in physical, digital, or voice commerce. Wells Fargo & Co. said late Thursday that its ATMs were back in service after an outage affected the bank’s ATMs, online and mobile banking services, …
Read More »Payfac Segpay Adds Traditional Merchant Accounts and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/7/19
Segpay Corp. debuted its Merchant Services Group, which is tasked with direct merchant-account placement, gateway, and other services for e-commerce merchants. Segpay has operated as a payment facilitator since 2005. A subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee will have a hearing at 2 p.m. Est. Feb. …
Read More »New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Bill To Protect Cash-Paying Consumers
New Jersey legislators last week passed a bill with overwhelming support to prevent businesses from banning consumers from using cash for purchases. The bill, which now goes to Gov. Phil Murphy for his signature, would make New Jersey only the second state to protect cash-using customers in stores. The proposed …
Read More »Fiserv Stuns the Industry With a Massive All-Stock Acquisition of First Data
In a stunning announcement that surprised many observers, Fiserv Inc. said Wednesday morning it has struck a deal to acquire First Data Corp. with what the parties say will be the biggest ever such transaction in the payments and financial-technology businesses. The all-stock deal, expected to close in the third …
Read More »BlueSnap Integrates Google Pay and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/7/19
Payments provider BlueSnap said it has integrated Google Pay into its platform for payments from online, mobile checkout, marketplaces, invoices, and virtual terminals. In related news, cross-border payments provider Flow also announced it is adopting Google Pay as payment option. Mobile-parking app provider ParkWhiz Inc. has rebranded itself as Arrive Inc. FICO said it has been awarded five …
Read More »Growth in Remote Card Payments Far Outpaces Point-of-Sale Payment Growth, the Fed Reports
E-commerce, online bill payments, and other forms of card-not-present payments continued their strong growth last year to capture a bigger share of total card payments, according to newly released Federal Reserve data. The number of what the Fed calls remote payments using general-purpose payment cards grew 22.8% in 2017 from …
Read More »FIS in Shell Loyalty Deal and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/19/18
E-commerce technology provider 3dcart said its merchants can now offer Bread, an online financing service for consumer purchases, to their shoppers. Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) said consumers can redeem rewards points instantly at the pump at approximately 13,400 Shell stations nationwide through a new agreement between FIS and …
Read More »Postpone the Requiem for ATMs: A Drop in the Global Installed Base Isn’t the Whole Story
With the onset of digital wallets, observers of the payments scene might expect consumer demand for cash to wither, and with it the population of ATMs. It turns out the ATM count worldwide did hit its zenith last year, according to research released this week, but the reason is a …
Read More »Extend Joins Visa Ready Program and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/18/18
Atom Tickets released a skill for Amazon Alexa, the retailer’s voice-assistant technology. Users can learn what movies are playing nearby and buy tickets using voice commands. The skill is integrated with Amazon Pay. Extend, a digital distribution platform for credit cards, registered with the Visa Ready program for business solutions, …
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