Western Union, MoneyGram, and Ria have ruled the money-transfer landscape for decades. Now they are challenged by a slew of digital-first upstarts. Does the old guard have what it takes to stay ahead of the competition? From mobile wallets and person-to-person payments to cryptocurrencies and blockchain ledgers, digital disrupters are …

Financial-technology provider Plaid Inc. disclosed that it has received “strategic investments” from both Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc.Digital payments and competition from nonbanks in payments may cost banks as much as 15% of their global payments revenue, or $280 billion, says Accenture in its “2019 Global Payments Survey.”Visa said it is working with insurance …

United Merchant Services Inc. said it acquired the rights to Royal Western Computer’s assets, including its point-of-sale software for dry cleaning merchants, branding, trademarks, licensee database, and sales channels. Royal Western Computer holds more than 25% of the dry cleaning POS market, UMS said. The company intends to expand by combining …

More and more, retailers are learning that the key to powerful loyalty programs lies in payments. Technology has evolved beyond comprehension over the years, and so customer behavior is changing. The consumer is ever-more demanding, and no more so than in the services industry. It’s getting harder to retain customers, …

With faster-payment services growing in the U.S. and the Federal Reserve expected to announce Monday whether it will assume a direct operating role in a real-time gross settlement system, banks and payment processors have not yet considered all the risks associated with the new services, according to a new report. …

Consumers are making more debit card transactions without the physical card, and fraudsters are taking notice, according to a major study released Thursday. Transactions such as e-commerce payments, push payments, and peer-to-peer transfers using the accounts backing debit cards, but not the plastic itself, are rising dramatically, according to the …

The Zelle peer-to-peer payments network is starting to click for the smaller, everyday transfers it was designed to handle. Early Warning Services LLC, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based banking-technology company that runs the 2-year-old network, reported on Tuesday that Zelle handled $44 billion in volume in the second quarter on 171 million …

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. may be making significant progress in their bid to simplify and speed their aged and cumbersome chargeback processes through automation, rules changes, and some key acquisitions, experts contend. The biggest gains in chargeback efficiency are expected to come when Visa and Mastercard launch real-time communications …

Mastercard Inc. completed its acquisition of Transfast, a cross-border payments specialist. Terms were not disclosed. Transfast provides B2B and person-to-person payment services through a network it says covers more than 125 countries and includes direct integrations with more than 300 banks and other financial institutions. The company also supports Mastercard …

PayPal Holdings Inc. added Instant Transfer capability for individuals and small businesses in Canada. The move relies on Visa Direct, a real-time push-payments service. Announced Tuesday, the service can move money from a PayPal account to a bank account via a Visa debit card. All transfers are subject to a …