Discover Financial Services chief financial officer R. Mark Graf will retire in early 2020, Discover announced. Graf joined Discover in 2011. The company has hired an executive-search team to find his successor. American Express Co. enhanced the rewards package on its Gold Card; cardholders will now get 4-times Membership Rewards …
Read More »First New York Transit, Then Everywhere Else for U.S. Contactless Push
As New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority inaugurates contactless payment for fares Friday, major card brands are intensely marketing the tap-and-pay service. Mastercard Inc. announced its Fareback Friday program to reward cardholders for paying for their New York subway rides with a contactless Mastercard product. Consumers may be able to get …
Read More »Issuers And Networks Line up for New York’s Contactless Mass-Transit System
There’s nothing like mass transit to inculcate payment habits in consumers, so it’s no surprise the major card brands are scrambling to see that their products are part of the ongoing rollout of contactless payments in the nation’s biggest transit system, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Starting May 31, …
Read More »TriMet Adds Apple Wallet Option and other Digital Transactions New briefs from 5/23/19
TriMet, the transit agency for the Portland, Ore., region, said transit riders can now use its Hop Fastpass card in Apple Wallet and use their iPhones and Apple Watches to pay for fares on TriMet, C-TRAN, and Portland Streetcar lines. TriMet said Hop is the first transit fare to launch …
Read More »Having Put out 20 Million Contactless Cards So Far, Chase Tackles New York Mass Transit
Two powerful forces for making contactless cards a routine feature of daily life are acceptance by mass-transit systems and backing from the biggest issuers. On Wednesday, that combination came into focus with an announcement from Visa Inc. that starting May 31 users of the 20 million contactless credit cards JPMorgan …
Read More »Hedge Fund Takes 12% Stake in “Undervalued” USA Technologies
The beaten-down shares of vending-machine payments provider USA Technologies Inc. jumped nearly 15% Tuesday on news that a hedge fund had taken a 12% stake in the company. In a regulatory filing, New York City-based Hudson Executive Capital LP said it believes USAT’s “shares are undervalued and are an attractive …
Read More »Boomtown Raises $12 Million and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/16/19
Boomtown Inc., which provides merchant-support services, raised $12 million in funding led by Telstra Ventures with others participating. The Series B funding will go toward building its Relay Software-as-a-Service platform and additional growth. Boomtown also announced that Robert H.B. Baldwin Jr., a member of the Global Payments Inc. board of …
Read More »Lots of Spaces in the Parking Market Remain for Electronic Payments
Parking is usually a sedate activity, unless you’re competing with another driver for a rare open spot on a busy downtown street or that space closest to the grocery store’s entryway. But parking as a new market for electronic payments is a different story, with intense activity by everyone from …
Read More »Denver Transit Riders Can Now Use Uber To Buy Tickets
Denver light-rail and bus riders will be making a bit of electronic-payments history this spring and summer by being the world’s first commuters able to use Uber Technologies Inc.’s mobile app to buy and use transit tickets. The new service, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks, …
Read More »How Apple Card Heralds a Push for Greater Digital Authentication—And for Apple Pay
Apple Inc.’s forthcoming Apple Card is another push from the computing giant to move payments into a digital realm under Apple’s control, according to analysts. Apple last week announced the card, which bears a Mastercard Inc. brand and will be issued by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The product, which eschews …
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