Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch subsidiary on Monday announced enhanced capabilities for its Virtual Payables service, including the ability by corporate card-using businesses to create single-use account numbers in real time. In addition to the single-use card numbers, businesses with a BofA Merrill purchasing card can connect directly to …

American Express Co. chairman and CEO Kenneth I. Chenault said at an investor conference Tuesday that banks’ sale of their stakes in Mastercard and Visa through initial public offerings “was one of the biggest strategic blunders of the last 20 years,” according to Bloomberg. Chenault, who will retire in February, …

The ATM turned 50 this year, and while its usefulness is expanding with new mobile and cardless capabilities, cash remains its strongest suit. Fifty years ago, the Summer of Love wasn’t the only cultural phenomenon taking place. Across the pond in England a new age in consumer banking was dawning …

Facebook Inc. has joined Visa Inc.’s Digital Enablement Program, giving the social-networking giant access to tokenization services globally. First Data Corp. said it will add UnionPay International acceptance to its merchant network, enabling UnionPay cardholders traveling as tourists in the United States to use their cards in stores and online. Eventually, …

Private-equity firm GTCR, which bought Sage Payment Solutions in August from its British parent company The Sage Group plc, appointed veteran independent sales organization executive Joe Kaplan as chief executive of the merchant processor, and also announced that it would invest $350 million to support Sage. Kaplan is the former …

Visa Inc. reported Tuesday that it has invested in Billtrust and is working with the business-to-business payments provider to streamline the reconciliation of B2B payments and increase the automation of virtual card payments for financial institutions and their corporate customers. The companies did not reveal the size of Visa’s investment, …

Overall, the forecast is strong for open-loop prepaid cards—loads are expected to reach $353.6 billion by 2020—but not every segment will partake in the growth. That’s the assessment in a new report from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Open-loop cards, which can be used at most merchants and carry a major …

Payments veteran and Harbortouch founder Jared Isaacman announced the formation of Lighthouse Network LLC, a company that will provide shared services, such as payment processing, merchant-support responsibilities, and corporate functions to Harbortouch, and eventually other brands, which could be acquired through strategic means, a Lighthouse Network spokesman said. Isaacman said in a press …

• First Data Corp. expanded its deal with ShopKeep, a cloud-based point-of-sale provider, that makes ShopKeep’s POS software available through its distribution network. ShopKeep also will incorporate First Data’s payment processing and security tools. This includes the Clover Go software developer kit and enables ShopKeep software to operate on Clover hardware. • …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews For years, payments providers have struggled to make money on person-to-person payments, and now Square Inc. is taking a swing at the problem. Starting now, Square is offering to make instant transfers of Square Cash funds into users’ bank accounts if they pony up a 1% …