Citing acceptance costs, Foods Co, a California unit of leading supermarket chain The Kroger Co., says it will stop accepting Visa credit cards Aug. 14 at 26 stores. “Foods Co is discontinuing the acceptance of Visa credit cards to save on the high costs associated with the credit card company’s …
Read More »ISOs Urged To Begin Thinking Beyond Pure Profit
The independent sales organization business is one that has spawned multimillion-dollar fortunes for numerous entrepreneurs. But perhaps it’s time for the industry to begin thinking beyond pure profit, merchant-acquiring executives suggested Thursday. The executives participated in a panel dubbed “Payments Doing Good” at the MidWest Acquirers Association annual conference in …
Read More »More Merchants, Not So Much Spending: A Mixed Report on Insider Sentiment on Crypto
When it comes to the potential for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to be a real-world payment method, users, investors, and blockchain executives have a somewhat mixed view on the matter. Asked whether they think more merchants will start accepting crypto this year, 49% agree and 23% strongly agree that they …
Read More »Many Consumers Shun P2P Payments To Avoid Fees, Though Few Services Charge Them
The impending demise of Snap Inc.’s Snapcash service comes at a time when peer-to-peer payment services are growing rapidly, but many consumers still remain hesitant to use them. Some of these consumers are confused about pricing, new findings from Fiserv Inc. suggest. Fiserv, a Brookfield, Wis.-based financial-institution processor, on Monday …
Read More »Cryptocurrency ‘Has Legs,” Payroc Says, So It’s Moving Toward a Merchant Acceptance Rollout Later This Year
Issues like price volatility, pokey transaction times, and sheer reputational risk have left many processors and independent sales organizations on the sidelines when it comes to cryptocurrency acceptance. Many, but not all. The latest entrant, and the largest so far, in this nascent market is Payroc LLC, which later this …
Read More »Blockchain Startup MakeCents Tests a Payments Platform It Says Bypasses Networks
With hopes of providing merchants with a lower-cost network to make and accept electronic payments, startup MakeCents announced Friday a test of its blockchain-based platform. New York City-based MakeCents says its decentralized platform is designed to “disrupt the $420 trillion global payments infrastructure by leveraging its blockchain technology to connect …
Read More »Crypto Gets a Boost As Bitcoin Surges And Mastercard Scores a Networking Patent
After weeks of listless trading, Bitcoin has rallied over the past 24 hours, shooting up from the high-$6,000s to the mid-$7,000s in a move that has brought new energy to other leading cryptocurrencies. Coincidentally, Mastercard Inc. on Tuesday was awarded a patent for a system that could allow users of …
Read More »Following Its Big June IPO, Adyen Continues To Surge
Does it pay to bet on payments? If the bet is on Adyen N.V., it pays handsomely so far. The Dutch processor and payments gateway is showing no signs of slowing down since its initial public offering nearly four weeks ago. The stock, which trades on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange, …
Read More »Century Business Solutions Debuts Agent Program and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/5/18
In a finding that resolves differing decisions by lower courts, the United Kingdom Court of Appeal ruled in favor of retailers challenging interchange fees set by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. as anti-competitive, Bloomberg reported. The case, however, now goes to a tribunal that reviews business-competition disputes. Payments provider Century Business …
Read More »The Supreme Court’s Controversial Balancing Act in the AmEx Anti-Steering Case
With its Monday decision upholding American Express Co.’s anti-steering rules, the U.S. Supreme Court unleashed a tide of press speculation about just how payment card pricing, rewards, and network rules will be affected. At this point, however, only a few things are clear. The first is that AmEx chief executive …
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