An Asian-American businesswoman named Nisha Desai has sued PayPal Holdings Inc. on grounds of racial discrimination, alleging the company restricted some of a $535-million investment commitment to Black and Hispanic candidates. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asks for unspecified damages and an order …
Read More »WhatsAppPay Rolls Out in India and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/31/24
Meta Platform’s WhatsApp payments service has been permitted by the National Payments Corp. of India, a regulatory body, to roll out WhatsApp Pay to its entire user base of 500 million in that country. Meta formerly was known as Facebook. GasBuddy, which offers a payments card featuring discounts on gasoline, forecasts the …
Read More »Merchants Hit Back at a Banking Group’s Request That the Fed Hold off on Reducing a Debit Interchange Cap
The Merchants Payments Coalition fired back late Monday at a request last week from the American Bankers Association that the Federal Reserve not act on a proposal to lower a longstanding limit on the interchange banks can earn on debit card transactions. In a letter to the Fed, the MPC …
Read More »AI, Interchange, And Open Finance Are the Top Prospective 2025 Payments Trends
The outlook for payments in 2025 will be rife with open finance, instant payments, multi-rail payments, interchange questions, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence, observers suggest. The top three payments trends next year will be open finance, instant payments adoption, and point-of-sale innovations, says Capgemini Research Institute in its …
Read More »Transit System Adopts Mobile Payment Service
Bus riders in Indiana, Pa., can now use smart cards to pay their fares with the debut of the transit system’s IndiGO Mobile Pay. Boston-based Modeshift Inc. designed the fare-collection system in conjunction with the Indiana County Transit Authority. Riders can use a mobile app to find routes, buy tickets …
Read More »Paystone To Acquire Ackroo; MEFA Launches Gift Card program for College Tuition
Ackroo Inc., a Canadian gift card and loyalty platform, announced early Friday it has reached a “definitive” agreement to be acquired by Paystone, a Canadian-based gift card and loyalty processor, in an all-cash deal for $21 million. Paystone will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Ackroo at …
Read More »The ABA’s Letter to the Fed Is the Latest Salvo in the Battle Over Debit Card Interchange
The American Bankers Association on Thursday issued a long and detailed letter it has sent to the Federal Reserve Board to argue its case against a Fed proposal that would reduce a longstanding cap on the interchange banks can earn on debit card transactions. The ABA’s action follows an analysis …
Read More »Extra Bill Pay Costs up 18%, doxo Says and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/13/24
So-called hidden costs—such as overdraft charges, late fees, and identity fraud—linked to bill payments amount to $196 billion on an annual basis, up 18% from last year, according to a study from bill-payment platform doxo. Mastercard Inc. released its 2025 payment trends forecast that discusses AI, small business, and contactless payments, which …
Read More »Bank of America Completes Paze Enablement
Consumers holding Bank of America Corp. credit and debit cards now have access to the Paze online checkout following BofA’s declaration that all of its eligible cards are now enabled for the e-commerce service. Paze is an online-checkout service developed by Early Warning Services LLC. It is designed to provide …
Read More »Cyber Weekend Sales up 5.7%, Fiserv Says and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/6/24
Same-store sales volume rose 5.7% and transactions were up 6.7% during the days from Nov. 27 and Dec. 2 compared to the same week last year, according to the 2024 Thanksgiving Holiday Insights report from Fiserv Inc. Illinois-based payments provider Payroc will work with Sunday, a restaurant point-of-sale technology provider, to offer the …
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