Colony Bankcorp Inc. announced it has launched a merchant-acquiring division led by Steve Raines as director for merchant services. Raines most recently was director at Synovus Merchant Services.Laurentian Bank of Canada said it will work with the card-issuing platform Brim Financial to issue Visa products in 2022, with features including instant virtual …
Read More »Fingerprint Signs a Deal to Bring Its Iris-Recognition Tech to Devices From Indian Firm Mantra
Fingerprint Cards AB early Wednesday said it has agreed to provide iris-recognition technology to Mantra Softech India Pvt Ltd., said to be the largest provider in India of biometric devices and sensors. Terms of the multi-year contract were not disclosed. Under the terms of the deal, Mantra will deploy the …
Read More »Eye On Crypto: BitPay Waives Card Fees for Crypto Purchases, Humbl Adds an ACH Integration
To make cryptocurrency more accessible to the general public, BitPay Inc. on Tuesday announced a limited-time promotion with Simplex, a fiat-to-cryptocurrency gateway, to waive fees when BitPay wallet users purchase crypto using a credit or debit card. BitPay wallet users can buy the currency using the BitPay debit card or …
Read More »In a First, Equifax Adds BNPL Payment Data To Credit Reports
To help buy now, pay later lenders better manage the risk associated with each applicant, Equifax Inc. on Monday announced it will begin in 2022 including BNPL payment data in consumer credit reports. To report the data, Equifax has created a new code to designate BNPL tradelines in consumer credit …
Read More »Cerence Moves a Step Closer to AI-Based In-Car Ordering and Payments
Get ready for even more sophisticated in-car virtual assistance. Cerence Inc., which develops in-car virtual technology, has launched Co-Pilot, its advanced assistant that uses artificial intelligence and vehicle integration to help with such tasks as ordering and paying for a coffee while a mile away. Cerence says its technology—it has …
Read More »With BNPL’s Fast Rise, the CFPB Issues a Demand Letter Seeking Data From Five Firms
The explosion in buy now, pay later point-of-sale lending was bound to catch the eye of regulators sooner or later, and on Thursday the other shoe dropped with a letter sent to five leading BNPL firms from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requesting information on their services. The five—Affirm Inc., …
Read More »UBS Arena Is the Latest Professional Sports Stadium to Go Cashless
The move toward cashless sports stadiums continues to accelerate. UBS Arena, home of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders, has contracted with Fiserv Inc. to install Clover point-of-sale hardware and Bypass point-of-sale software to enable digital and contactless payment options throughout the venue. UBS Arena will deploy more than …
Read More »U.S. Senators Press CFPB on BNPL Oversight and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/16/21
Six U.S. Senators sent a letter to Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, asking the agency to initiate a review of buy now, pay later products with a view toward introducing consumer protections. All six Senators are Democratic members of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.Online gaming operator PointsBet has …
Read More »COMMENTARY: The Time Has Come for All Merchants to Adopt Surcharging And Discounting
There are few subjects that raise the ire of merchants more than the runaway costs of card acceptance. For years, many have grumbled about the costs but felt powerless to do anything about them. Now, as the result of a chain of court victories at the state and federal level, …
Read More »16% Have Made a Crypto Payment and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/15/21
New research from Fiserv Inc. found that 16% of U.S. consumers have used cryptocurrency at least once to pay for goods and services. The survey of 2,200 U.S. adults also revealed that 25% of crypto users cited lack of merchant acceptance as the primary limitation to increasing the use of crypto as …
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