The three months ended March 31 were an eventful time for Apple Inc., as they were for most companies, but unlike many the company managed to largely contain the damage wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We’ve seen our products take on renewed interest” in the wake of Covid-19 and the …
April, 2020
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30 April
More Than Half of U.S. Consumers Now Use Some Form of Contactless Payments, Mastercard Says
Contactless payments may finally be gaining further adoption by U.S. consumers. Spurred by prevention efforts in reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic, many consumers—51%—use some form of contactless payment, Mastercard Inc. says. In what may be the most detailed data yet publicly released about U.S. consumers and contactless payments, Mastercard’s survey …
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30 April
Sour Ratings for Some Payments Companies and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/30/20
Citing the risk to their businesses from the coronavirus pandemic, securities rating agency Fitch Ratings revised its outlook to negative for seven publicly traded consumer-finance companies, including American Express Co., Discover Financial Services, and Synchrony Financial.Main Event Entertainment Inc. issued a notification indicating malware collected data from cards used on point-of-sale devices for food-and-beverage and entertainment …
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29 April
Mastercard Volumes Beginning To Show Some Stabilization after Sharp Drop-Off
Mastercard Inc. managed to remain profitable in the first quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic began to sweep the world, and its volume and transaction data for April indicate a possible bottoming out of the steep decline in consumer and business spending. U.S. dollar volume switched over Mastercard’s network in the …
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28 April
New Leadership at Merchant e-Solutions and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/28/20
Payments provider Merchant e-Solutions announced new leadership, including chief executive Mike Rouse and eight other top executives.Shift4 Payments launched SkyTab Takeout, an online-ordering system for restaurants it is offering with no setup, order, or monthly fees.HomeAdvisor, an online marketplace linking homeowners to service providers, launched HomeAdvisor Pay, which allows homeowners to make contactless payments …
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27 April
USA Technologies Folds in Proxy Fight; Bergeron Named New Chairman
The proxy fight between vending machine payments provider USA Technologies Inc.’s board of directors and top management on one side and the company’s largest shareholder, Hudson Executive Capital, on the other ended Monday with Hudson Executive the victor. Malvern, Pa.-based USAT announced an agreement with the New York City-based investment …
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27 April
COMMENTARY: Contactless Payments Are Paying Off for Consumer Health
The onset of the novel coronavirus has caused a seismic shift in the daily lives of Americans. While recent data in the fight against this pandemic are encouraging, we’re not out of the woods yet, and we will be slow to return to life as we once knew it. Social …
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24 April
$4 Trillion in Payment-Facilitator Global Processing Volume Forecasted by 2025
The payment-facilitator model isn’t likely to slow down any time soon. A new report predicts payment volume made via payment facilitators will top $4 trillion annually by 2025. Payment facilitators enable merchants to process payments under the banner of an organization that manages the payment connections and liability without requiring …
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24 April
A Plunge in T&E Spending Hits AmEx As It Copes With the Pandemic’s Worldwide Impact
A trend toward a near-total collapse in travel-and-entertainment spending helped drive down overall first-quarter card volume and discount revenue for American Express Co., the company reported Friday. “March was a very difficult month,” Stephen Squeri, AmEx’s chairman and chief executive, told stock analysts during a morning conference call. As with …
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23 April
Led by a Near Grounding of Travel Spending, Discover’s Volume Is Off 29% in April
Discover cardholders might not jet around the country like many American Express cardholders do, but it’s still telling that Discover’s travel spending volume has plunged 99% this month as governmental stay-at-home orders and business closures to control the Covid-19 pandemic chill the economy. The near grounding of travel spending was …