Competitive Strategies

Data-services provider Womply announced Womply Engage, a customer relationship management service for small businesses that enables merchants to create and manage email marketing programs. In an effort to address data breaches in the financial-services industry, the Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. said it is seeking experts for an initiative to create …

In an effort to streamline operations, Interac Association, Canada’s nationwide debit network, and its corporate cousin Acxsys Corp. have reorganized into a single entity known as Interac Corp., the company announced Monday. “This is an important milestone for Interac and a critical step in our continued success as one of …

When news broke last week that eBay Inc. will begin moving away from its tight embrace of PayPal Holdings Inc. for payment processing, investors immediately punished PayPal’s stock, interpreting the move as a big blow to the company’s business. But the frenzy of PayPal shorting may have overlooked one thing: …

The electronic funds transfer networks continue to diversify their services as competition for merchant and issuer business in debit payments intensifies. The latest example comes from processor Fiserv Inc.’s Accel network, which says Walmart Inc. is using its service for signature-based debit card transactions. Walmart typically prompts customers paying with …

Consumers may be ready to pull back from using credit cards if a survey from Auriemma Consulting Group is correct. Only 14% plan to increase their borrowing on credit cards in 2018, compared with 28% who said so in 2017. “Increased spending around the holiday season is normally predictive of greater …

Curiosity, and a bit of confusion, about what constitutes credit card surcharging and cash-discount programs surfaced this week at the Northeast Acquirers Association annual conference in Uncasville, Conn. During a panel discussion about the benefits and challenges of credit card surcharging and cash-discount programs for merchants, participants explained how their …

In advance of the Super Bowl on Sunday in Minneapolis, Visa Inc. said it has installed 700 upgraded point-of-sale terminals at U.S. Bank Stadium and additional POS devices at certain merchant locations in the city. The new devices are capable of handling contactless EMV transactions. An estimated 1 million people …

North America’s largest payments company on Thursday said it expects to receive a $1 billion bonus from the federal tax-reform bill passed into law in December. In contrast with its rival Mastercard Inc., which reported earlier in the day it recorded an $873 million charge in the fourth quarter related …

Federal regulatory initiatives targeting the payments industry may have abated, but a variety of others at the state level and in the court system could require reactions from payments providers. That’s the word from Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs, who spoke Wednesday at the annual Northeast Acquirers …

PayPal Holdings Inc.’s stock was trading down about 7.5% as of mid-morning Thursday, hours after an announcement from eBay Inc. that the big marketplace will shift transaction processing from long-time provider PayPal to Netherlands-based processor Adyen. EBay’s business accounts for about 13% of PayPal’s volume, a share PayPal said Thursday …