Issuing/Originating

Grocer The Kroger Co. launched Kroger Pay and the Kroger Rewards debit card. Kroger Pay, available for iOS and Android mobile devices, is a Quick Response code-based mobile-payment service, which also includes digital coupons and personalized offers. Currently, Kroger Pay is available in Columbus, Ohio, with plans for nationwide expansion …

While global card expenditures will increase 80% to $45 trillion by 2023 from $25 trillion in 2017, growth in the United States will be slow compared to other regions because the U.S. is already a well-developed market, says RBR Research in its “Global Payment Cards Data and Forecasts to 2023” …

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. expects further processor mergers in the near term and isn’t averse to initiating them in cases where they fit the company’s strategy, its chairman and chief executive said Tuesday morning. “We will always look for opportunities,” said Gary Norcross, who is also president of the …

Speed is a key selling point for person-to-person payments, but many P2P users aren’t taking advantage of real-time payment capabilities offered by their providers, according to research firm Aite Group LLC. Answers from 693 consumers who had used a digital P2P account to receive money in the 12 months ending …

Twenty-two days of talking to clients haven’t dampened Fiserv Inc.’s conviction that offering to buy First Data Corp. is the right move. In fact, if anything these conversations seem to have buoyed top executives’ confidence in the proposed $22 billion all-stock acquisition of the big processor. “We’ve spent a substantial …

Segpay Corp. debuted its Merchant Services Group, which is tasked with direct merchant-account placement, gateway, and other services for e-commerce merchants. Segpay has operated as a payment facilitator since 2005. A subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee will have a hearing at 2 p.m. Est. Feb. …

As if retailers and merchants didn’t have anything else to worry about, a malware threat called IcedID wants to set itself off as a special type, says a researcher at IBM Corp. In a blog post released Wednesday, the researcher says the criminal gangs using IcedID—disovered and named by IBM …

With the proposed merger of processing giants First Data Corp. and Fiserv Inc. looming over the payments landscape, players that both work and compete with the two companies are in a potentially ticklish position. But the chief executive of one such company made it clear Wednesday morning that First Data …

Mastercard Inc. named Paul Stoddart, who had been CEO of Vocalink after Mastercard acquired the U.K.-based real-time payments firm in 2017, as president, New Payment Platforms, effective March 1. Stoddart will oversee development of Mastercard’s real-time capabilities beyond traditional card-based services, including Vocalink, the Homesend joint venture, and Mastercard Send. …

PayPal Holdings Inc. says it has lent $50 billion to American consumers since it bought the BillMeLater lending service 11 years ago. The company also advanced its efforts to generate revenues from its Venmo peer-to-peer payment service by making subscription payments to the Tidal music-streaming service available through Venmo. Now …