Competitive Strategies

Visa Inc. reported Tuesday that it has invested in Billtrust and is working with the business-to-business payments provider to streamline the reconciliation of B2B payments and increase the automation of virtual card payments for financial institutions and their corporate customers. The companies did not reveal the size of Visa’s investment, …

Global Payments Inc. is making the transaction data its merchants generate easier for them to access and use. The Atlanta-based processor launched Heartland Analytics Monday. The service, available to U.S. merchants, is designed for small and mid-size businesses in the restaurant and hospitality industries. The service enables them to view …

Money transfers took a step toward app-based processing on Monday with news that BBVA is launching a service that will let persons in the United States use their smart phones to send money to recipients in Mexico. Later, the service will expand to the Caribbean and the rest of Latin …

International Business Machines Corp. on Monday announced a new service for financial institutions that uses blockchain technology to reduce settlement times and lower transaction costs. IBM is offering the service with Stellar.org., a Silicon Valley-based non-profit that runs the open-source Stellar blockchain network to bring low-cost financial services to low-income …

Bank of America Corp. reported Friday that it handled $4 billion in Zelle person-to-person payments in the third quarter, up 67% from $2.4 billion a year ago before the Zelle brand went live this past June. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase and Co., the nation’s largest bank, on Thursday reported a 13% …

The first big wave of Apple Pay contracts are expiring this month, and a big question for both Apple Inc. and the financial institutions that committed to support the computing giant’s mobile-payments app is whether to renew, and under what terms, in the face of less-than-spectacular results for mobile payments …

The Federal Reserve released the names of 27 payments-industry executives who will serve on a work group focused on developing a governance framework for faster payments in the United States. Fifty-five percent of U.S. credit and debit card spend is now on chip cards and 96% of the top 200 …

Prepaid card services provider Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. disclosed Wednesday that it plans to sell its struggling Cardpool business. That news came as Pleasanton, Calif.-based Blackhawk reported a loss of $7.8 million for its third quarter ended Sept. 9, bigger than the $5.1 million loss in 2016’s third quarter. Third-quarter …

Bitcoin’s remarkable ride continued early Thursday as the world’s most valuable digital currency broke through the $5,000 level and reached an all-time high price just over $5,200, according to Coinmarketcap.com. Bitcoin had been flirting with the $5,000 barrier for weeks, and indeed briefly broke through it early in September on some …

American Express Co. announced its Business Loans service that will provide unsecured loans of $3,500 to $50,000 for small businesses; holders of AmEx business cards can apply online and receive a decision in as little as 60 seconds, AmEx said. ProPay, a merchant-acquiring subsidiary of processor Total System Services Inc. …