Credit Cards

The boycott of Visa credit cards by The Kroger Co.’s Foods Co chain in central and northern California began Tuesday as planned, but the parent company still won’t say whether the boycott will be expanded to its many other units. Citing what it calls high costs to accept Visa credit …

With First Data Corp.’s stock on the rise, KKR & Co. Inc., the investment firm that controls most of the payment processor’s voting shares, is planning a secondary stock offering that will reduce its stake but still leave it firmly in control. First Data announced Monday that an affiliate of …

The Department of Finance Canada on Thursday issued its latest merchant-friendly announcement regarding payment cards, this one disclosing agreements with Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. for an average 10-basis-point reduction in credit card interchange for small and mid-size businesses to take effect in 2020. The department also said American Express …

More than 252 million iPhone owners globally use Apple Pay, a figure that equates to 31% of the active iPhone base, says Loup Ventures, a Minneapolis-based venture-capital firm. A year ago, the figure was 25%. That growth mostly is coming from international consumers, who Loup Ventures says account for 85% …

Payments provider i3 Verticals Inc. reported revenue of $84.5 million in its fiscal third quarter ended June 30, a 27.5% increase from $66.3 million a year ago. It had a loss of $655,000, compared with net income of $887,000 last year. This marks the first earnings results for the company …

Payment-card maker CPI Card Group said Thursday that new sales from an existing customer boosted its U.S. prepaid debit card revenue 26% in the second quarter. Littleton, Colo.-based CPI also reported that sold its United Kingdom business to private-investment firm SEA Equity for $4.5 million. With revenue of $15.4 million …

Having completed its first full quarter of operation on June 30, Worldpay Inc. on Thursday reported just over $1 billion in net revenue for the period from business lines that include merchant processing, technology services, and card-issuer support. That’s up 11% from what Vantiv Inc. and Worldpay Group plc would …

Citing data from the global payment card networks, the U.S. Payments Forum reported in its latest update on the conversion from magnetic-stripe to EMV chip card payments that approximately 57% of in-store card transactions are now “chip-on-chip,” meaning an EMV point-of-sale terminal read an EMV card. Also, acceptance of contact …

EVO Payments Inc. is hunting for new international markets as it continues to see growth in its U.S.-based business with independent software vendors, company executives said Wednesday during the merchant processor’s first earnings conference call as a public company. Founded in 1989 as an independent sales organization, Atlanta-based EVO in …

Malicious attacks on payments systems come in a bewildering array of shapes and sizes, making it a nettlesome problem figuring out which types of attack require the most defensive resources. Yet, the stakes could be highest in the United States, where the average cost per breach, at $225, is one …