With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating consumer use and merchant acceptance of contactless cards, technology companies are scrambling to exploit new opportunities stemming from the trend. One technology that could get a boost is software that can turn any off-the-shelf smart phone into a payment-acceptance device, a development the major card …
Read More »Ticketing’s Rebound And Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 8/24/20
Transaction volumes globally for digital tickets for air and rail travel and for events will reach 12.7 billion this year and will pass pre-Covid levels by 2022 at 32 billion, according to a report from Juniper Research. Transportation ticketing, however, is recovering more slowly, with transaction values not expected to reach pre-Covid …
Read More »Amid Covid-19, Fintechs Use Debit to Boost Their Lending, Savings, And Investing Apps
With underbanked consumers and gig workers looking for financial products to help them track spending, create savings, and manage debt, many financial-technology companies are layering debit products onto their core application to attract and retain customers. A driving force behind fintechs’ growing fondness for debit is that it is a …
Read More »Payments Will Help Lead a Post-Pandemic Rebound, a New Report Argues
Payments are expected to play a significant role in the economic recovery that will take place as the Covid-19 pandemic eases, says a new report from Boston-based Aite Group. The ways payments can help jump-start the economic recovery include reducing friction at the point-of-sale, increasing payment access, and integrating the …
Read More »In the Competitive Game of Open Banking, MX Claims a Big Lead With 50,000-Plus Connections
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 »TransferWise Expands Mastercard Deal and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 8/20/20
Under an expanded agreement, cross-border payments specialist TransferWise Ltd. will issue Mastercard debit cards in any market globally where Mastercard is accepted and TransferWise is licensed. TransferWise has issued more than 1 million cards globally since the agreement commenced in Europe in 2018.Consumer satisfaction with credit card issuers is plummeting as the Covid-19 pandemic …
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 »COMMENTARY: How Coronavirus Will Shape the Future of Self-Service Banking
Self-service banking has long had a strong reputation as a safe, trusted, and convenient channel. This is a key part of its value proposition to both financial institutions and their customers. While Covid-19 has temporarily reduced cash use and impacted transaction volumes based on the many restrictions large parts of …
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