Citing its potential effects on payments-market competition, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority has now ordered an in-depth review of PayPal Holdings Inc.’s acquisition of Sweden-based processor iZettle AB. A PayPal spokesperson told Reuters the company is working with the CMA and plans to demonstrate the market will remain …

The surge in popularity for peer-to-peer payments is making itself felt in the realm of holiday gifting, helping to erode a longstanding cultural taboo against giving cash during the annual gift-giving season. Gift transactions rose 47.2% in December 2017 over the monthly average for the previous August through October, according …

Crafting a mobile-payments strategy can be a daunting task. The technology is evolving rapidly, and so are consumer expectations. Rather than starting with capabilities, a successful mobile strategy begins with an understanding of how people engage with their finances as part of their daily lives. Evaluating how consumers use mobile …

FreedomPay announced Nando’s, an international fast-casual restaurant chain, will use FreedomPay’s point-to-point encryption payments platform in its Oracle Micros Simphony POS system installations. Payments provider SpotOn Transact LLC agreed to offer acceptance of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to merchants via a partnership with Vaultbank, a blockchain-technology firm. Kevin Jones, founder …

Three years ago, Mastercard shelled out big money for a U.K. technology firm. As faster payments take hold in the States, the rationale for that deal will soon be put to the test. Back in July 2017, the Federal Reserve issued a challenge to the U.S. payments industry: create a …

Online and mobile payments get all the press, but plenty of card-not-present payments still originate from telephone orders. The security threats from such orders are changing, which prompted the PCI Security Standards Council to issue an update Wednesday to guidance it first produced seven years ago for protecting phone-based payments. …

A consumer bill-pay survey revealed that 46% of consumers routinely pay after the due date or never pay at all. Of these, 72% are “very” or “extremely likely” to pay on time if they could pay with a credit or debit card, while 69% would pay on time if they …

First Data Corp. released its Holiday Insights dashboard, which shows real-time U.S. holiday spending trends, such as total spend percentage increase, today’s most active categories with average ticket and total transactions, and regional payment volume. To date, it indicates retail spending from Thanksgiving through Black Friday increased 6.4% year-over-year. Cardfree Inc., …

Mobile remote deposit capture software provider Mitek Systems Inc. reported that chief financial officer Jeffrey C. Davison, who in August said he would resign effective Nov. 30, has changed his mind and won’t quit. Mitek’s board of directors accepted the rescission. Long-time chief executive Jim DeBello recently left and has …

Worldpay Inc. and Paysafe Group announced a partnership to establish a payments platform for the U.S. online-gaming and sports-betting sector. The U.S. Secret Service lit up Operation Deep Impact last week in a nationwide initiative to find and remove credit and debit card skimming devices on fuel pumps. Following a …