Friday , April 4, 2025

Issuing/Originating

Block Gets the FDIC’s OK To Take Consumer Cash App Borrow Loans In-house

Square and Cash App parent Block Inc. announced late Thursday its Square Financial Services Inc. industrial bank has received approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to make consumer loans through Block’s Cash App Borrow feature. Square Financial Services launched as a Salt Lake City-based, FDIC-chartered industrial bank in 2021 …

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Zip Is Halting Credit Cards As a BNPL Funding Source

Buy now, pay later provider Zip Co. Ltd. is telling users it no longer will allow them to tap credit cards as a funding source. In an email this week, Zip says, “Starting in the next few weeks, you won’t be able to initiate new purchases through Zip using a …

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The EPC Takes Aim at the CCCA And Illinois’s Interchange Law

The Electronic Payments Coalition has launched the latest salvo in its offensive against legislation seeking to regulate credit card interchange. This time the thrust takes aim at federal and state legislative efforts. At the federal level, EPC executive chairman Richard Hunt said during a press conference late Wednesday morning the …

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Affirm Extends Its Reach With Apparel Retailers; Splitit Offers a Digital Wallet

Buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Holdings Inc. continues to expand into fashion merchants through a partnership with online fashion-marketplace StockX. Apparel merchants are a fast-growing merchant category for Affirm. The BNPL provider has added 55 apparel sellers in the past six months, including StockX. In addition, transactions in its apparel and …

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Shift4’s Lunchbox Stake and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/10/25

Shift4 Payments Inc. has chosen ordering-technology provider Lunchbox Technologies as a partner for Shift4’s SkyTab platform and has also invested in the company. The extent of the investment was not disclosed. Meanwhile, Lunchbox has appointed hospitality-industry veteran James Walker chief executive. Ingo Money Inc. said its Ingo Payments service agreed to work …

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AmEx Adds an Expense Management Platform Via Its Center Acquisition

American Express Co. has acquired software developer Center. Terms of the deal, announced late Thursday, were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter. The deal will provide AmEx’s corporate and small-business cardholders with an integrated expense-management platform that delivers real-time visibility into all employee spending, …

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For Many, It’s Device First To Make a Contactless Payment

Ten years ago, the U.S. payment card market made its shift to EMV chip cards, and along with that the industry prepared for more contactless payments. That work by issuers and card brands appears to have paid off because 92% of consumers are now familiar with NFC, the technology that …

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Stripe Expanding Chicago Office and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/7/25

Stripe Inc. has doubled its office space in Chicago, leasing more than 44,000 additional square feet on the fifth floor of a building in the city’s River North neighborhood and bringing its total space to about 89,000 square feet, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. Business-technology provider Globant announced it has developed systems for …

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Digital Wallet Developers Score a Victory in the Senate

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 51-47 to scrub a regulation issued in November by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and aimed at mobile wallets and digital money transfers. The repeal legislation, which now moves to the House of Representatives, comes as major payment-app developers like Apple Inc., Block Inc., …

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FedNow Limit Bumped to $1 Million and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/5/25

The Federal Reserve announced its FedNow real-time payments network this summer will raise its transaction limit to $1 million from $500,000. FedNow was launched in 2023. Kasheesh Inc. launched a loyalty program called Kasheesh Rewards, aimed at letting users earn rewards based on spending. Kasheesh’s platform allows users to split transactions across credit, debit, and …

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Digital Transactions