News

July, 2020

• 2 July

  Will Consumers’ Payment Habits Return to Their Pre-Covid-19 Patterns?

  

  Before being upended by the Covid-19 pandemic, the payment choices U.S. consumers made were fairly stable. The biggest changes from 2018 to 2019 were an upswing in online bill payments and continued slippage in cash usage, according to new findings from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Based on a …
• 2 July

  European Banks Plan Payment Network and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/2/20

  

  A group of 16 European banks said they plan to launch a “truly European” unified payments system by 2022 that would be an alternative to Visa and Mastercard, Reuters reported.The slowdown in in-store shopping due to the Covid-19 pandemic has caused some stores to run out of coins; most recently big-box grocery chain …
• 1 July

  How the Pandemic Has Hastened Small Merchants’ Conversion to Contactless And Online Channels

  

  Evidence continues to accumulate that the Covid-19 pandemic is not only boosting contactless and online payments, but doing so in historically short order. Some 48% of small and medium-size merchants reported in mid-June that they had observed an increase in the number of consumers either using contactless payments or asking …
• 1 July

  New ACH Contact-Registry Rule Takes Effect With the Goal of Reducing Fraud and Exceptions

  A new rule requiring all financial institutions in the automated clearing house network to participate in ACH governing body Nacha’s contact registry took effect Wednesday. The registry’s purpose is to enable financial institutions to quickly find the appropriate person to resolve issues when a transaction looks fraudulent or presents other …
• 1 July

  MagTek Launches Token Service and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/1/20

  

  MagTek Inc. said its Magensa unit launched token technology to make touchless payments easier. The technology enables a merchant to send a payment link containing the token via email or text that allows consumers to pay in a secure environment. MagTek said the technology is available in QwickPAY, the Magensa mobile …

June, 2020

• 30 June

  Wirecard’s U.S. Unit Bids for a New Owner As Rivals Sense an Opportunity to Win New Business

  

  The fallout from the Wirecard AG financial scandal has hit the U.S. market as the processor’s North American unit announced late Monday it is seeking a buyer. Wirecard North America Inc., based in Conshohocken, Pa., said it has engaged an unnamed investment bank to assist in the transaction. In the …
• 30 June

  European Commission Report Details Wealth Redistribution From Interchange Regulation

  

  A new European Commission report shows how interchange regulation has lowered merchants’ payment card acceptance costs and taken more than $3 billion a year from card issuers’ top lines. The EC, the executive arm of the Brussels-based European Union, implemented its so-called Interchange Fee Regulation in 2015 and 2016. The …
• 30 June

  Wix Payments Unveiled and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/30/20

  

  Website-creation platform Wix.com Ltd. launched its e-commerce service that offers Wix Payments, a payment-processing service.The Regal movie-theater chain, a unit of Cineworld Group, said it will reopen its 541 U.S. theaters July 31 and will implement contactless payments along with other measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.Marqeta Inc. said it will support issuance …
• 29 June

  Chargebacks911 Debuts a Chargeback-Management Tool for Financial Institutions

  

  Chargebacks reverberate throughout the payment stream, and now Chargebacks911 has released a tool that it says will help financial institutions better manage them. Dubbed Fi911, the tool is meant to automate procedures and make them more efficient, Clearwater, Fla.-based Chargebacks911 says. The company says more chargeback inquiries are being directed …
• 29 June

  COMMENTARY: Wirecard Was a Fairy Tale With an Unhappy Ending

  

  Stories too good to be true often aren’t. The curtain has at long last been pulled back on high-flying payments fintech Wirecard AG. A whopping $2.1 billion in cash on its balance sheet can’t be verified and likely never existed. Chief executive Markus Braun has resigned and was arrested. Chief …