Buy now, pay later provider Afterpay Ltd. said users’ average ticket increased 30% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2019.Affirm Inc. completed its acquisition of PayBright, a buy now, pay later provider in Canada.PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a check cashing feature for select Venmo app users. This enables them to have funds …
Read More »Digital Transactions’ 2020 Top 10 Countdown
Count down the 10 most popular stories published in the Digital Transactions News daily newsletter in 2020. #10 Processor Paya Will Go Public Via a So-Called SPAC Merger (Aug. 3) #9 Feeling Heat, Square Explains Its New Reserve Policy (June 23) #8 After Beating Wells Fargo Twice in Court, USAA …
Read More »Bitcoin at 4X Value at Year’s End and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/31/20
Bitcoin, the world’s largest and most well-known digital currency, is ending the year above $28,000, a quadrupling of its value since the start of 2020. Its market capitalization as of Dec. 30 is $536 billion, up from $133 billion at Jan. 2.RevoluGroup Canada Inc. has launched the RevoluEX Cryptocurrency Exchange that …
Read More »Nacha Expands ACH Tool for Small Businesses and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/29/20
Nacha, the automated clearing house rules maker, and its Payments Innovation Alliance, a group of corporations, third-party processors, fintechs, and financial institutions, expanded the ACH Quick Start Tool, which helps smaller businesses learn about the ACH.Also, Nacha launched the Faster Payments Project Team to help organizations learn about faster payments and its capabilities.Starting Jan. …
Read More »E-Commerce Sales up 49% This Fall from 2019 and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/28/20
Retail sales, excluding the automotive and gasoline categories, grew 3% in the Oct. 11 to Dec. 24 period year-over-year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. E-commerce sales volume grew 49% in the same period compared to the year-ago period.Some Walmart stores in north Alabama stopped accepting credit cards when the stores’ Internet service failed owing …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Political—Not Business—Priorities Will Roil Payments in 2021
The payments industry operates on a continuum of varying degrees of politicization, imposed and self-imposed. For maximizing value, less is better. Increased politicization will challenge the payments industry in 2021. U.S. regulators have already exercised enormous discretionary power over payments, sometimes lawlessly. Hatched by the Department of Justice in 2013, …
Read More »An ISO Sees Opportunity in Digital Payments for an Often Neglected Niche—Churches
Just as businesses are fast-tracking their efforts to accept digital payments as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, so too are houses of worship. Pushpay Holdings Ltd., a Redmond, Wash.-based independent sales organization, says the number of churches using its donor-management system is growing rapidly. While churches were already adopting …
Read More »Grocer Picks NCR POS System and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/23/20
NCR Corp. said Big Y Foods Inc., with 85 New England locations, selected the NCR Emerald point-of-sale system for its checkouts.With the pandemic shutting down casinos, gambling is moving online, where the volume of wagers is expected to nearly double to $92.9 billion in 2023 from $59 billion this year, Statista forecasts.Payments provider Paysafe …
Read More »Texas Grocer H-E-B Offers SNAP Acceptance for Curbside Pickup And Home Delivery
The confluence of digital payments and economic hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic has led another major supermarket chain to offer SNAP EBT acceptance through its mobile app and on its Web site for curbside pickup and home-delivery orders. H-E-B, with 329 stores in Texas and another 55 in Mexico, said …
Read More »Eye on E-Commerce: PSCU Registers Big E-Commerce Gains; Digital River Aids Manufacturers in D2C Sales
Card-not-present transactions continue to grow at financial institutions that use PSCU, a credit union service organization. In its weekly report released Monday, PSCU said CNP accounted for 55.5% of credit card purchase volume and 47.9% of transactions for the week ending Dec. 13. For debit, CNP represented 43.9% of purchase …
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