Issuing/Originating

In the heart of America’s bustling commerce, a subtle yet powerful revolution is unfolding, driven by small merchants. The strategies of offering discounts for cash payments and imposing surcharges for card transactions are at the forefront of this change. These practices, rapidly gaining traction across communities, directly challenge the entrenched …

Card-acceptance costs and network rules weren’t the only subjects covered by the sweeping settlement revealed Tuesday involving Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and lawyers for the merchants that sued them. The pending agreement, which needs approval from a federal judge, allows for the creation of so-called merchant buying groups that would …

Merchant lawsuits challenging credit card interchange and payment card network rules that began nearly two decades ago may finally be heading for resolution under a landmark settlement announced Tuesday by Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., and lawyers for the merchants. Merchant lawyers in the massive case estimate the settlement could save …

Less than a year after going public, Bitcoin ATM network deployer Bitcoin Depot Inc. on Monday said it is eyeing substantial growth in 2024. Meanwhile, blockchain technology provider BTCS Inc. swung to a profit in 2023 after a loss in 2022. Recent developments from Atlanta-based Bitcoin Depot include the purchase …

Capital One’s proposed $35.3-billion acquisition of Discover will be a thunderclap for the debit-card, retail-banking, and payment-network markets. The Discover network has long been the number-five U.S. retail-payment network, after Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and PayPal. Since its acquisition of Diners Club from Citi in 2008, Discover has struggled as …

Customer satisfaction with digital wallets is on the rise, which is helping propel consumer adoption and usage, according to J.D. Power’s newly released 2024 Digital Wallet Satisfaction Study. Despite the increase in customer satisfaction, though, the study found wallets providers still have work to do to raise adoption among both …

The top 50 originating financial institutions on the automated clearing house network hit nearly 27.7 billion in payments in 2023, a 5.7% increase over 2022, Nacha says. Volume for the top 50 receiving FIs was almost 20 billion payments in 2023, a 6.4% increase from 2022. Herndon, Va.-based Nacha says …

Chargebacks are always an issue for merchants. While there are numerous programs and indicators to identify fraudulent ones, detecting and managing first-party fraud—that committed by legitimate customers—can be tougher to root out. In response, Mastercard Inc. is pushing its First Party Trust Program, an artificial intelligence-based service that enables merchants …

FIS Inc. said its SecurLock service, working with artificial-intelligence technology from the fintech Stratyfy, is set to increase the volume of card transactions accurately identified as fraudulent, allowing clients to stop the transactions before they are consummated. FIS said the technology “was able to deliver a significant improvement of accurately identified …

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its proposed rule on mobile wallets back in November, and comments on it closed Jan. 8, but that doesn’t mean the proposal isn’t still stirring up discussion as lawmakers, payments experts, and technology firms wrestle with its implications. The rule, which would define so-called …