As small businesses increasingly look for help in adopting digital payments, PFs are generating more and more payment volume—and more revenue. When payment-facilitator megaplayers, like Square Inc. and Stripe Inc., first entered the scene more than a decade ago, many within the payments industry viewed the model as too risky. …

Ally Financial Inc. announced this week it will buy CardWorks Inc. for $2.65 billion. CardWorks owns Merrick Bank, a major player in merchant acquiring. In the deal, expected to close in the third quarter, Detroit-based Ally says Merrick Bank will merge into Ally Bank. Merrick has approximately $32 billion in …

The decline of checks over recent decades is a well-known story, but there were still 14.5 billion check payments in 2018, according to Federal Reserve research. So just who’s still writing checks, and for what kinds of payments? “All things being equal, older, low-income, non-minority group members are more likely …

When Fidelity National Information Services Inc. closed on its $43 billion acquisition of Worldpay Inc. last summer, the payments industry knew the massive deal would boost FIS instantly into the top ranks of global merchant processors. On Thursday, the company let the world know just how big its position in …

News of impending interchange-rate revisions from Visa Inc. may have roiled the payments industry, but for processing giants like Global Payments Inc., the impact will simply be business as usual. Top Global executives made that point crystal clear Wednesday. “We see these [rate changes] all the time. We have to accommodate …

PayPal Holdings Inc. said it and the Center on Crime and Community Resilience at Northeastern University, along with the University of Chicago Crime Lab, formed a research project to examine payment methods used to finance illegally-sourced firearms with the goal of combatting the illegal sale of guns.Processor Fiserv Inc. announced its “Scan to …

There’s plenty of proposed legislation affecting the payments business just now, and casting a long shadow over all of it is the present atmosphere of partisanship. “The mood in Washington is vitriolic, childish. It’s all-out war,” said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government relations for the Electronic Transactions Association, …

Cross-border payments specialist WorldRemit Corp. says a partnership with Alipay, a major Chinese mobile-payment service, will enable consumers to make international remittances to the Alipay mobile app. Announced Wednesday, the service harbors significant potential. Approximately 35 million Chinese citizens live abroad, and they sent home an estimated $67 billion in 2018, …

The value of payments on the automated clearing house network grew by more than $1 trillion in 2019 for the seventh straight year and transactions increased by more than 1 billion for the fifth consecutive year, ACH governing body Nacha reported Monday. Total payments came to 24.7 billion transactions, up …

Disbursements once were a staid business dominated by checks and ACH direct deposits. No more, thanks to the rise of the gig economy and new payout technology. When they’re owed something, 21st Century consumers aren’t satisfied with waiting to get a check, and waiting again for it to clear. They …