Mastercard Inc. has been active on the mergers-and-acquisitions front lately, and that’s going to continue, according to company president and chief executive Ajay Banga. The acquisitions typically involve financial-technology firms in all corners of payments. Just two weeks ago, Mastercard announced that it had acquired Vyze Inc., the provider of …
Read More »With a Hurdle Cleared, FIS Expects to Close $43 Billion Worldpay Deal in the Third Quarter
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on Tuesday said it expects to close its colossal $43 billion acquisition of payment processor Worldpay Inc. in the third quarter following a Federal Trade Commission ruling. The merger, announced in March, would create a processing colossus with payments services ranging from merchant processing, …
Read More »Factors Align for Widespread U.S. Contactless Payments Adoption, A Fed Study Suggests
The conditions for the widespread adoption of contactless payments using chip cards are in place, asserts a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. But when that will happen and what will trigger it are unknown in the Fed report, “Tap to Pay: Will Contactless Cards Pave the …
Read More »As Discover Found Out, Some Cash Rewards Will Bite Harder Than Others
Merchants and card issuers long ago discovered the value of cash in driving transaction volume, but on Thursday Discover Financial Services demonstrated how expensive some rewards categories can be. Discover reported $677 million in discount and interchange revenue for the first quarter, up 5% from the same quarter last year. …
Read More »Nexgo is New ExaDigm Name and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/25/19
Point-of-sale equipment maker ExaDigm Inc. changed its name to Nexgo Inc., which is a subsidiary of XGD Group. Bluefin Payment Systems LLC said Convenient Payments LLC, developer of the GovTeller point-of-sale software, will use Bluefin’s encryption services. Shift4 Payments released its RESTful application programming interface for its integration partners. A …
Read More »Zelle Posts $39 billion in P2P Payments on a 72% Transaction Increase
The bank-sponsored Zelle person-to-person payment service continued on its growth trajectory in the first quarter, with transaction volume up more than 70% and payment volume rising more than 50%. Zelle provider Early Warning Services LLC reported Wednesday that first-quarter payment volume hit $39 billion, a 54% increase from just over …
Read More »KeyBank Issuing Contactless Cards and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/24/19
KeyBank said it has begun issuing contactless-enabled Mastercard credit and debit cards. Diebold Nixdorf Inc. said KeyBank will upgrade its network of 1,400 ATMs with Diebold’s DN Vynamic portfolio of software applications that includes ATM management and more options for customers, including selection of bill denominations. Payments provider CCBill LLC announced …
Read More »How an Old Standard Could Trip Up a New Generation of Contactless Payments
The surprising revelation by J.C. Penney Co. Inc. over the weekend that it had ceased acceptance of contactless payments unmasked the little-noticed ability of contactless mobile wallets to work with point-of-sale technology that far predates them but which Visa Inc. wants banished. The blend of old and new has worked …
Read More »JCPenney Drops Apple Pay
Department-store chain J.C. Penney Co. Inc. confirmed over the weekend that it no longer accepts Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay mobile-payment service. The move appears to involve a Visa Inc. contactless rule that took effect this month that may have broader implications for U.S. retailers. The confirmation came in a tweet …
Read More »Visa Next Promises Greater Consumer Control of Digital Payments
Visa Inc. announced Monday the debut of Visa Next, a platform for issuers and issuer-processors that enables such options as the ability to create new digital card accounts on demand and instantly activate and tokenize digital accounts for e-commerce and mobile-wallet use. Visa Next offers a series of application programming …
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