It’s May, and that means it’s time for our annual exercise to seek out and describe the nonbank players, apart from the big networks, that are rewriting the rules for the digital exchange of value. Since 2004, Digital Transactions has traced the course of payments innovation through its nimblest practitioners—the …

In a world of soundbites and hyper partisanship, a two-volume, 900-page report is at a real disadvantage, especially if it comes from a previous administration. Nonetheless, if the last four years have taught us anything, it’s that important topics might require more depth than your average tweet. In January, in …

Payments companies took a beating as the pandemic raged, but Visa Inc.’s top brass indicated Tuesday afternoon the big network has put the worst behind it. “We believe we are at the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” said chief executive and chairman Al Kelly as he pointed to …

With its acquisition of Axia Technologies Inc., also known as AxiaMed, Bank of America Corp. took a big step toward rebuilding its merchant-acquiring business. AxiaMed provides financial services and payments technology to health-care providers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition, announced Friday, gives Bank of America a …

It’s time to replace interchange with a model that fairly represents the value each party receives. Fintechs have shown us the way to create exciting new forms of financial services. But we are merely scratching the surface of what the age of intelligent systems can do for the payments industry. …

How much attention will the payments industry draw from the regulator and its new director? History would indicate the industry won’t be ignored. PayPal Holdings Inc.’s win earlier this year in its lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its prepaid rule may have appeared to push back on …

About 24 million American households have dropped out of the payments scene since 2017. The group once known as “underbanked” Americans has disappeared. To understand where they went, a bit of history is in order. In 2009, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. began doing surveys of American households every two …

As payments providers ramp up fast-payment capabilities that don’t depend on existing card-payment rails, pressure has mounted on the dominant U.S. card networks to enable quick transfers from senders to accounts held by receivers worldwide. Visa Inc. on Tuesday, for example, announced Visa Direct Payouts, which allows users to send …

Visa Inc. reported early Monday that after a year of preparation it has completed the first transaction involving direct settlement with a so-called stablecoin, USD Coin. The transaction, which involves a stablecoin that mirrors the U.S. dollar, allowed Crypto.com, a platform for the trading of digital currencies, to send transactions …

By shifting stores and consumers to contactless payment, the pandemic made it easier to stop fraud.  One year into a global pandemic, and our lives will never be the same. The way we work, shop, travel, and entertain ourselves have all seen major changes during a year of living surrounded …