News

June, 2020

• 9 June

  Battling Business Email Compromise with Payment Verification

  

  By Giact Business email compromise (“BEC”) attempts have skyrocketed in recent weeks. According to the FBI, fraud operators are using the “uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic to further their efforts.”  With many in the U.S. shifting to a work-from-home environments, without the infrastructure and security in place to defend against …
• 9 June

  Store Failures Will Spike as Merchants Wrestle With Covid-19’s Wreckage, a Researcher Predicts

  

  Despite tentative signs of an economic recovery from the coronavirus-induced depression, some experts are forecasting a gloomy outlook for store closures as the year plays out and merchants struggle with debt loads and a consumer shift to e-commerce. At least 20,000, and as many as 25,000, stores will likely shut …
• 9 June

  Skrill’s Next U.S. Step Beyond Money Transfer

  

  Paysafe Group has big ambitions for its Skrill financial products in the United States. Monday’s U.S. launch of the Skrill Money Transfer service is but the first step of a broader U.S. expansion for Skrill, says Lorenzo Pellegrino, a Paysafe executive. The free money-transfer service followed January’s debut of the …
• 9 June

  VizyPay, Clover, And Cash Discounts and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/9/20

  

  Independent sales organization VizyPay LLC launched a cash-discount app for Fiserv Inc.’s Clover point-of-sale systems; the app, an extension of VizyPay’s cash-discount program, is available in the Clover App Market.MoneyGram International Inc. reported a doubling of its digital-transaction volume in May from May a year ago. Growth in this category in the first …
• 8 June

  Overall Retail Sales Are in a Slump, But E-Commerce Is a Big Bright Spot

  

  Total U.S. retail sales, including auto and fuel, will drop 10.5%, to $4.894 trillion in 2020, a total not seen since 2016, forecasts eMarketer Inc. That’s sharper than the 8.2% slump in 2009, in the midst of that recession more than 10 years ago. E-commerce, however, is the bright spot. …
• 8 June

  Merchants Bracing for Higher Reserve Requirements From Acquirers

  

  The economy is slowly thawing from its Covid-19 freeze-up, but many card-accepting merchants are struggling with more chargebacks stemming from canceled trips, non-delivery of goods, or other reasons. And some of them also are dealing with demands from their merchant acquirers for more cash to fund reserve accounts. Payments and …
• 8 June

  Covid-19’s Payment Choice Impact and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/8/20

  

  Fearing Covid-19, consumers are less likely to use any method to make a payment in a store these days, but 20% say they have used a smart phone or smart watch do so in the past week, no change from a year ago, even though fewer say they have used a debit …
• 5 June

  Merchant Acquirer Shift4 Payments Prices IPO Above Expected Range

  

  Investors appear eager to buy stocks of payment-processing companies as evidenced Thursday by Shift4 Payments Inc. pricing its initial public offering at $23 per share, nearly 10% above the high end of the $19 to $21 range it had expected just days earlier. Shift4’s shares opened late Friday morning on …
• 5 June

  Touch-Free Commerce Takes Root As Contactless Payments Surge 150% Among Cardknox Merchants

  

  More evidence that consumers are finally adopting contactless payments emerged  as Cardknox, a payment gateway, noted a 150% increase in contactless payment use from just from November to April. Announced Thursday, the increase, albeit lacking volume details, indicates consumers’ mindfulness about reducing physical contact with point-of-sale terminals. Cardknox said some of …
• 5 June

  Faster Payments Council Releases Interoperability Report and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/5/20

  

  The U.S. Faster Payments Council’s network committee released a white paper on faster payments interoperability.MoneyGram International Inc. said it has agreed with Al Rajhi Bank, said to be the largest Islamic bank in the world, and its remittance unit, Tahweel al Rajh, to offer money transfers in Saudi Arabia.IBS Software, which serves …