In the ever-more competitive game of payments and open banking, direct data connections matter. On Thursday, MX Technologies Inc. claimed to have more than any other data aggregator, announcing it has exceeded 50,000 links to financial institutions and fintechs. The 10-year-old company, based in Lehi, Utah, competes with major aggregators …
Read More »Amidst a Pandemic, Consumers Adapt by Adopting Touch-free Payments and Shopping
The use cases for contactless payments have been there all along, but the Covid-19 pandemic is turning out to be a major motivator in adoption of the touch-averse technology. Evidence comes in a roundup of data from the U.S. Payments Forum, a Princeton Junction, N.J.-based payments association. In its latest …
Read More »The Pandemic Has Stoked Merchant Risk Along With Contactless Payments
With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating consumers’ use of contactless cards and mobile wallets, merchants can expect hackers to target contactless transaction data at the point-of-sale, says Ruston Miles, founder and advisor at Atlanta-based Bluefin Payment Systems LLC. The main point of vulnerability in a contactless environment at the physical point-of-sale …
Read More »Credit Union Data Point to Robust Growth for Wallet, Contactless Card, And Online Activity
More evidence emerged Monday that, for all of its horrors, the coronavirus has been a boon for mobile wallets and for contactless payments generally. Wallets, which struggled to win consumer adoption in the United States even with backing from popular tech firms like Apple Inc. and Google, are increasingly turning …
Read More »AmEx To Acquire Kabbage and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 8/17/20
American Express Co. announced it has agreed to acquire digital lender Kabbage Inc. in a deal expected to close later this year. Kabbage’s existing loan portfolio is not included in the transaction, for which terms were not announced. Eleven-year-old Kabbage entered the payment processing business in 2018.Restaurants and other businesses in Pasadena, Calif., …
Read More »Movie Chain Promotes Contactless Payments as It Reopens and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 8/14/20
Movie theater chain Cinemark Holdings Inc. announced it is encouraging consumers to use contactless payments when it reopens its locations beginning Friday.Curb, a mobile platform for taxi-ride hailing and payments, said the city of Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection is the first client for a new service aimed at …
Read More »COMMENTARY: How a Shift to Online Explains the Square-Merchant Dustup
There’s been a lot of buzz around recent reports—notably one in The New York Times—that Square has been withholding money from merchants. Apparently, with little to no warning, the company has been holding back up to 30% of merchant sales in some cases. The merchants affected, obviously, aren’t pleased. With …
Read More »Kallpod’s Kontactless Services Debuts and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 8/13/20
Kallpod LLC announced its Kontactless Quick Response code-based payment service is now available at select Hyatt, Courtyard Marriott, and Hilton locations. Consumers can place orders for food, beverages, and merchandise to be delivered where the user is sitting. They scan a QR code at a table or seat, which opens a …
Read More »Visa Joins Nacha’s Phixius Information-Exchange Pilot
Card-brand giant Visa Inc. is joining a payment-information exchange test operated by Nacha, the network operator for the automated clearing house system. Dubbed Phixius, the exchange could expedite the sharing of payment information between payees and payers and can allow for multiple payment types, including ACH, wire, card, and others. …
Read More »Acquirer Services Firm CardSmart.io Debuts and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 8/12/20
Payments-industry veterans Con Coughlin and Mackenzie Walsh have formed CardSmart.io, aimed at providing services including portfolio acquisition and merchant funding while working with independent software vendors, independent sales organizations, agents, and resellers.Houston-based P97 Networks Inc. announced it has been chosen by ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. to enable mobile payments at Mobil-branded stations …
Read More »