E-Commerce

If you know anything about the payment space these days, you know that the natives are restless. Merchants have been fed up with interchange rates for years, with no shortage of lawsuits to voice their complaints. Even after winning the right to pass on interchange costs to the consumer, merchants …

A bill containing a provision that would raise the asset threshold for debit card issuers covered by the Durbin Amendment narrowly passed in a vote late Thursday by the House Financial Services Committee. The committee voted 24-22 in favor of advancing the bill, called the Bank Resilience and Regulatory Improvement …

Visa Inc. is taking up the notion of a digital payment identity and making it part of its product mix. Announced Wednesday at the Visa Payments Forum in San Francisco, the Visa Flexible Credential is but one of several products the payments network formally debuted, including broader tap-to-pay capabilities, a …

The U.S. Supreme Court early Thursday upheld the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by a 7-2 vote, reversing an October 2022 ruling by a federal appeals court in New Orleans that had held the means by which the bureau is funded violates the U.S. Constitution. The CFPB, created in 2008, receives its …

The big processor Worldline S.A. is working with Visa Inc. to launch a virtual business-to-business card-issuing facility for online travel agencies. The deal marks the first foray for Paris-based Worldline beyond payment processing.  The partnership will integrate Worldline’s Merchant Services Acceptance capabilities with its Financial Services Card issuing platform to …

Flywire Corp., a specialist in payments for higher education, said it has widened the availability of its third-party invoicing platform, which lets third parties pay tuition and fees on behalf of students. Buy now, pay later provider Afterpay said Gen Z consumers—those born between 1997 and 2012—increased first-quarter 2024 spending at small …

The National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition have lined up against the Federal Reserve, arguing that while a rate reduction on debit card transactions is welcome, the Fed’s proposed pricing does not go far enough. The two industry trade groups sent their respective letters to the Fed on …

Paysafe Ltd. wants to do more to sign merchants directly, and to that end it’s hiring salespeople—lots of them. The London-based merchant processor, which has a big operation in North America and aspirations for a larger one, hired 55 salespeople in the first quarter and plans to add 170 in …

Block Inc.’s Square point-of-sale technology unit announced a slew of restaurant initiatives, including a link with distributor Performance Foodservice to market Square to 125,000 U.S. and Canada-based clients; integrations with dining-technology providers; links to restaurant associations in Illinois, California, and New York state; and a recommendation engine based on machine learning. Square …

As the effects of the economic stimulus pumped into the economy by the federal government during the pandemic wear off, consumers are having a harder time paying their recurring debts on time. A study released Monday by Achieve, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of debt-management programs for consumers, reveals that …