Competitive Strategies

Building on its strategy to support cryptocurrency, PayPal Holdings Inc. announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire Curv Inc., a provider of cloud-based infrastructure for digital-asset security, for an undisclosed sum. Once the acquisition is completed later this year, Tel Aviv, Israel-based Curv will become part of a PayPal …

Payments on the automated clearing house network  have been gliding upward for some time, allowing processors that handle ACH volume to tap into that growth. On Monday, Paya Holdings Inc. showed it’s among the beneficiaries. ACH volume for Atlanta-based Paya reached $3.5 billion in last year’s fourth quarter, up fully 46% from …

Payments provider Priority Technology Holdings Inc. announced it has agreed to acquire Finxera Holdings Inc., a provider of banking-as-a-service technology. Terms were not announced for the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter.Mastercard Inc. said it is expanding its Engage platform to digital first deployment, assistance and training through the …

Cryptocurrency can be a volatile store of value and continues to struggle as a medium of exchange, but merchants in some markets are slowly moving to accept it as a faster and cheaper payment method than cards in the face of complications brought on globally by the pandemic or by …

Customer experiences and expectations are rapidly evolving as people and businesses seek out slicker financial apps and services that are embedded deeper into our software applications. This explosion of new experiences is largely enabled through application programming interfaces (APIs). Seeing a new opportunity here, many financial institutions are investing in …

The warehouse-store chain BJ’s Wholesale Club said it has added electronic benefits transfer payment capability to its Web site for in-store or curbside pickup of SNAP-eligible items. The service applies to stores in Florida and North Carolina. The processor is FIS Inc.’s Worldpay. SNAP is the federal Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program.Independent …

Shift4 Payments Inc. refers to the volume potential it’s trying to tap as a “coiled spring” waiting to be released as Covid restrictions ease. On Thursday, the big payments processor tapped into that potential with its $72-million acquisition of VenueNext Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of mobile payments, point-of-sale …

Payments provider The OLB Group Inc. said its SecurePay gateway can now support cryptocurrency transactions and settlement of funds for merchants, putting crypto on par with credit and debit payments.PayActiv Inc., a provider of earned-wage access technology, said Hancock Whitney is the first financial institution to offer the company’s service.In related news, …

Cash purchases fell to historic lows in 2020 as consumers shifted their payment preferences to contactless technologies such as mobile wallets, according to the 2021 Global Payments Report by Worldpay from FIS Inc. Cash transactions represented just 20.5% of global point-of-sale volume in 2020, down from 30.2% 2019, according to …

Thanks to the proliferation of such financial-service technologies as mobile wallets and peer-to-peer and e-cash payments, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, financial-technology providers are closing the gap on unbanked and underbanked consumers’ access to financial services, according to a report from the Electronic Transactions Association. One example cited in the …