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February, 2021

• 25 February

  Zelle Gets Access to TCH’s Real Time Payments Network As an Integration Goes Live

  

  Peer-to-peer transactions have taken off as a way to pay digitally during the pandemic, and now the biggest bank-owned P2P network is getting a big lift through its integration with the country’s most extensive real-time payments network. Early Warning Services LLC announced early Thursday payments on its fast-growing Zelle P2P payments …
• 17 February

  In a ‘Future That Arrived Early,’ Shopify Invests to Capitalize on Trends Accelerated by Covid

  

  While many payments companies have had their hands full contending with the many impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, payments firms with e-commerce platforms have thrived as consumers flocked to online buying. Shopify Inc. demonstrated Wednesday just how much it’s investing in shopping and payments apps to capitalize on the growth …
• 16 February

  PayPal Opens Its New Venmo Credit Card to Users Generally

  

  PayPal Holdings Inc. on Tuesday threw the door wide open for applications for its new Venmo credit card. The Visa-branded card, which the company has had in the works since 2019 and began issuing to select users in October, includes a Quick Response code, a rewards structure, and, through the Venmo …
• 12 February

  Cryptocurrency Begins Its Move Up From the Minor Leagues for Mastercard And Visa

  

  The two big card networks have made no bones about their interest in supporting cryptocurrency transactions, and this week both made big moves in that direction. The bigger move came from Mastercard Inc., which on Wednesday announced its intention to launch later this year the ability to send and receive …

January, 2021

• 25 January

  MoneyGram’s Links to Visa Direct And Checkout.com Hike the Stakes in Near Real Time Remittances

  

  The remittance giants haven’t been shy over the last two years in adopting card-network technology and local payments services to close the last mile for fast transfers directly to users’ mobile devices. And MoneyGram International Inc. on Friday played its latest card in this market with an arrangement that will …
• 11 January

  How Its Deal for Kount Lets Equifax Reinforce Its Capabilities Against Online Fraud

  

  With consumers and businesses flocking to online commerce, companies of all sizes are reinforcing their technology for accepting transactions and rating them for risk. The latest example is the giant credit-reporting company Equifax Inc., which on Friday said it is paying $640 million to buy Kount Inc., a 14-year-old Boise, …
• 6 January

  A Last-Minute Presidential Ban on China-Based Payment Apps Puzzles Payments Experts

  

  An executive order by President Donald Trump banning a pair of major Chinese payments apps comes in the waning days of his administration and may leave more questions than it answers, observers say. The order, issued Tuesday, prohibits transactions on eight China-based apps, including the hugely popular Alipay and WeChat …

December, 2020

• 21 December

  Scuppered Talks Between FIS And Global Payments Point to Enduring Importance of Size

  

  Mega-merger fever hasn’t subsided in the payments industry. A combination of FIS Inc. and Global Payments Inc., which have reportedly broken off talks to merge in a deal that could be valued at $70 billion, would represent a continued push for yet more economies of scale in a business whose …
• 9 December

  Hudson Executive Capital And Apollo Global Management Bid to Take Cardtronics Private

  

  Cardtronics plc, a leading non-bank ATM deployer, has been tendered an offer by Hudson Executive Capital and Apollo Global Management for its outstanding shares of stock at $31 per share in cash.  Cardtronics, which operates more than 270,000 ATMs, has a less than 10% share of the global ATM business …
• 8 December

  Capital One Halts BNPL Credit Card Transactions

  

  Capital One Financial Corp. is barring all of its credit cards from being used for point-of-sale lending transactions, aside from the United Kingdom where buy now, pay later products are being reviewed for possible regulation. The move comes as overall buy now, pay later providers garner a lot of attention, …