Overall U.S. credit card use dipped 2% for the week ending Nov. 29 compared with the week ending Dec. 1, 2019, according to the Tracking Transaction Trends report from PSCU, a credit union service organization. Meanwhile, debit card use increased 4.9% for the same period. Regionally, the largest credit card drop was …
Read More »Unicorn Momentum—Like Much Else—Slows in 2020 for Payments Firms And Other Fintechs
Most Americans will be glad to see the last of 2020 as they ring in 2021 in a few weeks, and that group will include private investors. In a year in which the coronavirus ran rampant, damaging many businesses and shuttering others, tech investors pegged significantly fewer privately held payments …
Read More »COMMENTARY: The DoJ Is Right in Suing To Stop Visa’s Deal For Plaid. Here’s Why (Part I)
Finally! No doubt, merchants throughout the country are applauding the Justice Department’s suit against Visa to stop its planned acquisition of Plaid, a potential competitor. For far too long, we’ve witnessed the growth of Visa’s dominance of the debit card business, which has come at a huge cost to America’s …
Read More »BitPay Brings Crypto to the Mass Payout Market With BitPay Send
As firms look for ways to speed up and secure simultaneous payments to multiple workers or contractors, cryptocurrency has entered the picture. BitPay Inc., an Atlanta-based processor that offers crypto e-wallets, on Thursday said it has added a mass-payout service that will let companies pay gig workers, contractors, and other …
Read More »PayPal Enjoys a Robust Quarter As It Outlines a ‘Fundamental Overhaul’ of Its Apps
PayPal Holdings Inc.’s top executives late Monday laid out what chief executive Dan Schulman called “a fundamental overhaul” of the company’s PayPal and Venmo apps that will include a new cryptocurrency feature as well as bill payment and QR code capability on top of near-field communication technology and PayPal’s Pay …
Read More »‘We Hope the Worst Is Behind Us’ Says AmEx’s Boss As the Company Shows Signs of a Comeback
As the economy registers a tentative recovery from the deep recession caused by Covid-19, payments networks are doing likewise. This is probably no more true than with American Express Co., whose concentration in the travel-and-entertainment market caused the company’s financials to nosedive earlier this year as the pandemic grounded airlines, …
Read More »Eye on Acceptance: Visa Rolls Out Tap to Phone; Chase Launches QuickAccept
Visa Inc. on Wednesday announced the rollout in 15 geographic markets of Visa Tap to Phone, which allows consumers to initiate a transaction simply by tapping a contactless card to a merchant’s NFC-enabled mobile device. Tap to Phone is now live in numerous countries throughout Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia …
Read More »PayPal Dips into Crypto and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/21/20
PayPal Holdings Inc. announced a service that allows account holders to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly from their account. The company also said it will make cryptocurrency available as a funding source for purchases at the 26 million merchants worldwide that accept PayPal.Payments provider FIS Inc. said it added pharmacy chain Walgreens …
Read More »Transaction Pricing Levels Out, According to a New Strawhecker Report
Last conducted in 2016, the latest Third-Party Processing Pricing Benchmark Study from The Strawhecker Group indicates that debit and credit card transaction pricing appears to have leveled off. The average value of an IP-connected front-end authorization and capture action in 2020 is $0.016 for jumbo wholesale acquirers, or those with …
Read More »Square Releases an API to Allow Its Terminal to Ease Acceptance of Contactless Payments
Much has been written about the need for merchants to adopt various forms of contactless payments to suit jittery customers and cashiers in the midst of Covid-19, but often the conversion to touch-free transactions is easier said than done. In response, Square Inc. late Thursday unveiled an application programming interface …
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