News

June, 2020

• 23 June

  Feeling Heat, Square Explains Its New Reserve Policy

  

  Facing criticism for withholding as much as 30% of some small merchants’ payment volume, merchant processor and business software provider Square Inc. on Tuesday posted an explanation of its new reserve policy. “Out of our millions of sellers, fewer than 0.3% have reserves on their accounts, but given increased interest, …
• 23 June

  With an $825-Million Deal for Finicity, Mastercard Picks up Open-Banking Tech for POS Credit

  

  Mastercard Inc.’s $825-million deal for Finicity Corp., announced Tuesday, may be aimed at ensuring a strong position in burgeoning markets like point-of-sale credit, but it could also prove handy as consumers struggle with the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, observers say. The acquisition, which Mastercard says should close by …
• 23 June

  Visa Notes 1 Billion Tokens and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/23/20

  

  Visa Inc. said its Visa Token Service has now issued more than 1 billion tokens globally, with more than 680 million tokens issued in the past 12 months. Tokens replace Visa account numbers with data strings that are useless if stolen.Authentication services provider Giact released its “The Changing Landscape of Identity Fraud: Fraudsters Strike …
• 22 June

  Eye on E-Commerce: More Older Online Shoppers; PSCU Notes Continued Strong Online Debit Use

  

  More older consumers—those 45 years old or more—are likely to pick up online shopping as a routine shopping channel, predicts eMarketer Inc. The New York City-based research firm forecasts a 5.8% increase in the number of online shoppers in that demographic. That is up from the earlier forecast of 3.2%. …
• 22 June

  COMMENTARY: Digital Fiat Currencies Should Come From the Private—Not Public—Sector (Part Two)

  

  One of the most aggressive—and worrisome—central bank digital currency models is a proposal from law professors Morgan Ricks and John Crawford and lawyer and former regulator Lev Menand that the Fed provide direct banking “FedAccounts” to consumers and businesses. It’s intended to improve payments efficiency and reduce the number of …
• 22 June

  Maverick Payments Debuts Gateway and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/22/20

  

  Maverick Payments launched its payment gateway, which supports 3-D Secure, account updaters, and interchange optimization.Digital-payments technology provider Checkout.com announced a $150 million Series B funding round, valuing the company at $5.5 billion. The round, led by technology fund Coatue, tripled the company’s value.ATM and point-of-sale hardware and software provider Diebold Nixdorf Inc. said it generated …
• 19 June

  Diebold Nixdorf Eyes $50 Million in Savings and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/19/20

  

  ATM manufacturer Diebold Nixdorf Inc. extended its agreement with consulting firm Accenture plc to streamline its operations by making business processes digital and moving them to the cloud. Diebold Nixdorf says the pact could yield $50 million in savings through 2023.The Federal Reserve released its FraudClassifier model, an effort to bring consistency to the …
• 19 June

  Splitit Adds Mastercard to Its Growing List of Payments Partners

  

  Splitit Payments Ltd. announced Thursday that it had signed a multiyear agreement with Mastercard Inc. intended to accelerate adoption of its installment-payment service for online merchants. The distribution agreement opens the possibility of Mastercard-accepting merchants offering Splitit as a financing option to their customers. New York City-based Splitit also has …
• 19 June

  COMMENTARY: Digital Fiat Currencies Should Come From the Private—Not Public—Sector (Part One)

  

  Digital fiat currencies are coming. Bitcoin and the more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies it inspired have ignited the interest of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Peoples Bank of China, as well as that of private-sector players like Visa and Facebook, in digital currencies tied to dollars, euros, …
• 18 June

  Rewards Tailored for Quarantined Cardholders Are Keeping Travel-Related Cards Aloft

  

  Merchants that cobrand rewards cards to build business are often connected one way or another to the travel industry, but they may not have much to worry about even though the Covid-19 pandemic has kept consumers close to home. Twenty-three percent of these cardholders think they’re getting more value from …