When Fiserv Inc. acquired First Data Corp. three years ago, the Brookfield, Wis.-based fintech took on an enormous commitment to the merchant-acquiring business. Late Tuesday, Fiserv’s top management made clear just how big that commitment is, how fast it’s growing, and how big it will get. “We see a clear …

Consumer spending in the United States, in terms of February retail sales excluding auto, was up 8.7% over February 2021 and 17.3% over February 2019, according to Mastercard Inc.’s SpendingPulse report, which monitors in-store and online retail sales.President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to work out a common …

As Russian armed forces continue their assault on Ukraine, Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., and American Express Co. late Saturday said they are suspending all operations in Russia, following up on actions taken by the networks nearly a week earlier. Meanwhile, reports began to filter out of Russia that at least some …

Block Inc., parent company of Square Inc., has become the latest payments provider to come under the scrutiny of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB, as well as attorneys general from multiple states, have requested information from Block related to how the company handles complaints and disputes from customers …

With card issuers making it easier to dispute a transaction in the two years since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, observers say it has become harder for them to distinguish good customers from bad customers, especially when a transaction is disputed post-purchase. The latter case is when friendly fraud can occur, …

Buy now, pay later has been around for years, but since the onset of the Covid pandemic it has soared in popularity, attracting heavyweight payments companies, opening new payment avenues for consumers, and drawing the attention of federal regulators. Late Thursday, Splitit Payments Ltd. was the latest practitioner to report …

Despite the economy reopening after the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, e-commerce continues to boom as consumers embrace shopping online from home or via their mobile device.  A recent study from FIS Inc. reveals that e-commerce transaction values in the United States grew 10% in 2021 compared to 2020, …

Ownit Commerce Inc. is betting the release of its new Connected Checkout service will give direct-to-consumer brands the ability to improve conversion rates by embedding Connected Checkout links anywhere they place URLs. The links enable one-tap purchase of any product. The effort is aimed at combatting shopping-cart abandonment as e-commerce …

Shift4 Payments Inc. early Tuesday said it has concluded agreements to acquire international e-commerce acquirer Finaro and cryptocurrency-based donation platform Giving Block in deals valued at $875 million in cash and stock, including future earnout provisions. The latter deal has already closed, while Allentown, Pa.-based Shift4 expects to close the …

The past two years have seen merchants become frequent targets of ransomware attacks, largely due to their weaker cybersecurity practices. The threat only promises to get worse. For cybercriminals, ransomware attacks are easy money. To cash in, hackers need only plant malware on a target’s network to gain entry. Once …