Payments provider Blackhawk Network Inc. said it is working with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to distribute a total of $25 million in aid on 50,000 prepaid cards to health-care professionals battling Covid-19. The money was donated by Facebook Inc.Payroll-services provider PayActiv Inc. said its study of usage data from a sample …

While the Covid-19 pandemic has raised the issue of speeding stimulus payments and other relief to consumers and businesses, The Federal Reserve system is staying with its planned 2023 or 2024 launch date for its FedNow real-time payment service, officials said Thursday in an update that comes almost exactly one …

With consumers flocking to e-commerce during the Covid-19 pandemic, net product sales for Amazon.com Inc. totaled $50.2 billion the June quarter, up 40% year-over-year. Sales at its physical stores dropped 13% to $3.8 billion.China will surpass the United States as the world’s largest retail market this year, eMarketer Inc. predicted in its “Global …

Peer-to-peer payments networks like Zelle were introduced as a means for consumers to pay each other, but business acceptance now appears to be ramping up along with consumer usage in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Seven major financial institutions are now enabling property owners, home-services companies, and other small …

The global retail-payment networks Mastercard and Visa are on a tear, acquiring and investing in adjacent payment-opportunity space in networks that can leverage and reinforce their existing franchises.  Their traditional payment schemes are dominant worldwide and near indestructible. While for the foreseeable future they could grow on autopilot, to their …

The FIS-Worldpay merger not only created a processing behemoth, it set the stage for an operation with diverse revenue streams that can withstand shocks like Covid-19. A year later, the FIS/Worldpay merger—one of three giant processor combinations in 2019—appears to be reaping the promised benefits. If a company that created …

All card schemes are now on board with the new deadline for the U.S. EMV liability shift in April 2021. So, the time to upgrade—if you haven’t—is now.  Adding EMV chip readers both inside a store and at automated fuel dispensers (AFDs) isn’t intended to be a hardship for gas …

Amadis, a payment software provider, announced an EMV migration product for petroleum and convenience stores. In conjunction with Advanced Mobile Payment Inc. and Texas Engineering Consulting Systems and Services, Amadis developed a proprietary Android-based contactless pay-at-the-pump product that decouples the fuel pump dispenser from the point-of-sale system, enabling payment authorization to take …

One of the most aggressive—and worrisome—central bank digital currency models is a proposal from law professors Morgan Ricks and John Crawford and lawyer and former regulator Lev Menand that the Fed provide direct banking “FedAccounts” to consumers and businesses. It’s intended to improve payments efficiency and reduce the number of …

Paysafe Group said it has expanded its Knect loyalty program for its Skrill digital wallet to the U.S. market. The program offers points that can be redeemed for cash when users perform transactions using the digital wallet or a linked Skrill Visa prepaid card. Last week, Paysafe launched its Skrill Money Transfer service …