Unified token payments offer benefits that include but go well beyond enhanced security. That’s why they’re just what merchants need in today’s hypercompetitive marketplace. Retail today is undergoing significant transformation. Businesses must quickly adapt to shifting consumer demographics, preferences, and technology to remain competitive or face the harsh realities of …

Facebook’s digital money could empower the underbanked, usher cryptocurrency into the mainstream, and accelerate the arrival of real-time payments. For some, that’s not good enough. In Roman times, the libra was a unit of weight roughly equivalent to 12 ounces. Ancient Rome also attached the name to a constellation that …

JPMorgan Chase plans to discontinue its Chase Pay mobile wallet. Other banks are shuttering their wallet apps, too. Is there no longer—or was there ever—a place for bank-sponsored wallets for mobile payments? Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, collectively “the Pays,” seem to get all the attention when the …

Tech behemoths Google, Amazon, and Apple, goliath retailers Walmart and Target, and PayPal, all support the Federal Reserve providing faster payments via its FedNow service, slated for introduction by 2024. Each of them, however, would howl in protest if Washington proposed competing with their business or helping would-be competitors. Fearing The Clearing …

The recently completed acquisition of Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) by Global Payments Inc. is “the best of the bunch” among the three megamergers in the payment-processing industry this year, investment research firm Morningstar Inc. says in a new report. The Global-TSYS deal “has the most capacity to reduce costs …

Policymakers have much work ahead when reviewing cryptocurrencies like the proposed Libra, a European regulator said Wednesday. In related news, a cryptocurrency payment plugin debuts for WordPress. The Libra cryptocurrency project led by Facebook Inc. has “undoubtedly been a wake-up call for central banks and policymakers,” said Benoit Coeure, a …

American Express Co. posted an online guide for consumers about contactless cards. Beginning in July of 2019, all newly issued AmEx consumer and small-business cards are contactless-enabled, and starting next month all newly issued corporate cards will be contactless-enabled.P97 Networks, a provider of mobile payments and rewards programs for petroleum retailers, …

More types of retailers and e-commerce merchants are facing more fraud attempts as the number of attacks increased for every merchant type covered in the 2019 True Cost of Fraud report issued Tuesday by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. And with the growth comes an increase in the cost to counter the …

Merchant-services companies may already have the best tool for courting independent software vendors and software developers. It’s the sales model. That’s the word from a panel at last week’s Western States Acquirers Association conference in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Many payment providers are looking to integrated payments, often an integral part …

The China-based payments network UnionPay International said it now links to more than 28 million merchants outside China, with 2 million having been added in the first half of 2019. The company also said 80% of U.S. merchants now accept UnionPay credit cards.Visa Inc. said its B2B Connect network now processes cross-border corporate …