News

May, 2020

• 19 May

  A Rogue First Data ISO Will Cost Fiserv $40 Million in a Proposed Settlement With the FTC

  

  Fiserv Inc. and the former head of an independent sales organization will pay $40.2 million to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission stemming from alleged illegal actions committed by the ISO from 2012 to 2014 while it obtained processing services from First Data Merchant Services, whose parent company …
• 19 May

  Square’s Cash App Brings Dollar-Cost Averaging to The Crypto World

  

  With its merchant business under pressure because of the coronavirus pandemic, Square Inc. is yet again spying new opportunities for its consumer-facing Cash App, whose core feature is person-to-person payments. This time, Square is rolling out regularly scheduled purchases of Bitcoin and stocks for Cash App users. Square chief executive …
• 19 May

  Mastercard Also Extends EMV Liability Shift for Fuel Pumps

  

  All four card brands have now delayed for the second time their EMV liability shifts for automated fuel dispensers with Mastercard Inc.’s Monday announcement it would postpone its shift until April 16. The original shift was to have taken place in October 2017, but was deferred until October 2020. Along …
• 19 May

  In a Twist on Contactless, PayPal Rolls Out a QR Code App for Small And Occasional Sellers

  

  In an effort to reach occasional and very small sellers struggling with restrictions imposed to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic, PayPal Holdings Inc. on Tuesday launched a Quick Response code capability for its mobile app. The feature allows a buyer to scan a QR code displayed by a seller …
• 19 May

  WooCommerce Payments Debuts and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/19/20

  

  E-commerce facilitator WooCommerce launched WooCommerce Payments to provide checkout and payments-management capability for merchants on its platform. Transaction fees start at 2.9% plus 30 cents for U.S.-issued cards.ACI Worldwide Inc. announced Wundr Group Ltd., a retail payments platform specializing in cross-border transactions, will use ACI’s UP eCommerce Payments technology, which links to card-transaction …
• 18 May

  With a Planned IPO, Could Shift4 Be Looking at a Big Rebound Following the Ravages of Covid-19?

  

  The middle of a pandemic is an intriguing time to tap the public markets, to say the least, but observers say there could be some upside ultimately for Shift4 Payments LLC, which on Friday filed its expected registration statement for an initial public offering. The Allentown, Pa.-based payments-technology provider, which …
• 18 May

  Recovery in Card Usage Gathers Steam Among Credit-Union Members

  

  Even though credit card spending is still depressed as a result of the Covid-19 economic downturn, payment card volume trends have now been improving for a month or more, according to new data from credit-union service organization PSCU. St. Petersburg, Fla.-based PSCU reported Monday that overall credit card spending by …
• 18 May

  27% of Consumers Late on a Bill and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/18/20

  

  Twenty-seven percent of U.S. consumers are past due on an at least one bill and nearly 50% will need a year to catch up on bills because of the Covid-19 pandemic, finds a study from YouGov and ACI Worldwide Inc. Of the nearly 1,400 surveyed, 81% said their mortgages and 78% said …
• 15 May

  How Covid-19’s Economic Slowdown Is Disrupting Payments M&A

  

  In the wake of 2019’s major merger-and-acquisition activity in the payments industry, the impact of Covid-19 is affecting the timing of deals, capital availability, and the due diligence process. That’s the assessment from panelists in the “M&A Trends in a Pandemic World” session at Transact Connect, the Electronic Transactions Association’s …
• 15 May

  Retail Sales Slump 16% in April and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 5/15/20

  

  The U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau issued advance estimates for April’s seasonally adjusted retail and food-services sales totaling $403.9 billion, down 16.4% from March and off 21.6% from April 2019.In one indication of the toll the slumping economy is taking on consumers, store card issuer and processor Alliance Data said its overall delinquency rate …