News

November, 2020

• 24 November

  COMMENTARY: Three Things C-Stores Must Do Now to Contend With Covid-19

  

  The pandemic has forced the world—individuals and businesses alike—to reassess their approaches toward life and reevaluate daily processes. The same goes for convenience stores with a particular focus on solution-driven innovation and adaptation. They must evolve their businesses with modern technologies, such as contactless payment processing, pre-store visit staging, and …
• 24 November

  PAI Adds Bitcoin Service to its ATMs and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/24/20

  

  Payment Alliance International Inc. said its fleet of more than 95,000 ATMs will redeem Bitcoin for cash under an agreement with B4U Financial LLC, whose BitLoad4U technology will manage authorization, clearing, and settlement and allow redemption from any cryptocurrency mobile wallet.A Bitcoin variant called Bitcoin Latinum announced a pre-sale launch with availability on exchanges in …
• 23 November

  Western Union’s Real-Time Payments Service Reaches a100-Country Milestone

  

  The Western Union Co.’s  real-time digital payout service for sending money real-time to bank accounts, digital wallets, and cards, is now available in 100 countries. The service, which was announced in September 2019 at Western Union’s investor day conference, leverages Western Union’s more than 40 banking and payment partnerships covering more than …
• 23 November

  ATM Operators Praise a Proposed OCC Rule That Would Wipe Away Years-Old Regulatory Roadblocks

  

  Independent ATM operators are lauding a proposed rulemaking from the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency they say would correct a history of denial of access to banking services for entrepreneurs that install and operate ATMs in retail stores and other locations. Observers say the rulemaking, if adopted, …
• 23 November

  Visa Commercial Pay Debuts and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/23/20

  

  Visa Inc. has formed a partnership with virtual-payments technology provider Conferma Pay to launch Visa Commercial Pay, a venture in virtual commercial cards. Available globally, the suite will be available from Visa’s financial institution clients. Visa and Conferma Pay have a long-standing relationship. “Consumerization of [business-to-business] payments has significantly accelerated during …
• 20 November

  XTM Announces an Unsecured Visa Card With a Dynamically Determined Credit Line

  

  Credit cards historically have either been secured by a deposit or tied to a credit limit that remains fixed over time. On Friday, a Toronto-based payments-technology provider announced it is developing an unsecured card that comes with a credit line that varies with cardholder behavior. The Visa-branded Vert card, managed …
• 20 November

  Gateways Adapt to E-Commerce As They Contend With Covid-19’s Impact

  

  The Strawhecker Group’s most recent analysis of 100 payment gateways found that half of them charge a monthly fee, down from 74% in 2019. That is potentially because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the report says. Other findings show that 52% of all gateways focus on retail, followed …
• 20 November

  68% of Consumers Will Use Contactless Payments and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/20/20

  

  A Discover Financial Services survey found that 68% of consumers said they will use contactless payments more to avoid touching public surfaces and 66% would use less cash because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey of 2,000 U.S. adults also found that 35% said they plan to spend less this holiday shopping …
• 19 November

  A Revamped Google Pay Seeks Wider Appeal by Pushing Beyond Payments

  

  Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit on Wednesday announced a major overhaul of its 5-year-old Google Pay wallet to push beyond mobile payments and incorporate links and data Google says will generate daily usage. The move comes as major payment apps such as Apple Pay and Google Pay have sought to boost …
• 19 November

  Eye on BNPL: Klarna Adds 1 Million Customers in 3 Weeks And Affirm Readies an IPO

  

  Consumers appear to be flocking to buy now, pay later options. Evidence of that comes from Klarna US, which says it gained 1 million customers in three weeks, pushing its total to 11 million. It has grown from 9 million customers only since August. Among the reasons for the rapid …