Consumers are replacing cash with payment cards during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the “Purchasing in a Pandemic” report issued by Visa Inc. and consultancy The Strawhecker Group. Among the findings is that 26% of respondents expect to use less cash following the pandemic when compared to before. That, coupled …

PayPal Holdings Inc. on Monday launched a Visa-branded credit card for its Venmo peer-to-peer payment service that features a QR code for P2P transfers in addition to a near-field communication chip for merchant acceptance. The new product arrives as PayPal searches for ways to boost revenue for its wildly popular …

Blackhawk Network launched its Issuance and Program Management Solution, a service that enables companies to outsource their gift card and digital gift programs through Blackhawk. The new service is enabled by the company’s recent acquisition of SVM, a provider of open- and closed-loop gift card technology.Payroc LLC said its affiliate invested $2.6 …

Consumer demand is so strong that 81% of merchants surveyed by American Express Co. intend to make contactless payments a permanent option at the point of sale. Some 70% of merchants say their customers have asked for contactless payments, J.J. Kieley, vice president of the AmEx Payments Consulting Group, tells Digital …

Mastercard Inc. announced Wednesday plans to expand its Digital First card program in North America by partnering with payment processors to provide guidelines for consumer experience with digital payment cards.  Processors Mastercard is partnering with include CoreCard Software Inc., FIS Inc., Fiserv Inc., Galileo Processing Inc., i2c Inc., Marqeta Inc., …

Momentum behind a standard for the exchange of consumers’ financial data between fintech apps and banks gained strength Monday with an announcement that a trade group supporting the standard has added 39 members since April. The group, the Reston, Va.-based Financial Data Exchange LLC, now claims a membership of 140 firms, …

The pandemic has sparked a huge lift in online gift card sales as consumers make shopping for the plastic part of their e-commerce routine. The number of cards purchased online soared 57% in the first six months of this year compared to the first half of 2019. Some 52% of …

Payments provider Blackhawk Network Inc. said it is working with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to distribute a total of $25 million in aid on 50,000 prepaid cards to health-care professionals battling Covid-19. The money was donated by Facebook Inc.Payroll-services provider PayActiv Inc. said its study of usage data from a sample …

A program launched last year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to let holders of electronic benefit transfer cards spend their benefits online has quickly expanded to 42 states and the District of Columbia, up from just seven states as recently as March, according to Fiserv Inc., which is working …

Like its bigger rival Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. managed to remain profitable during the pandemic-ravaged second quarter and in recent weeks has been seeing improving transaction trends. Mastercard on Thursday reported total U.S. purchase volume of $405 billion in the quarter ended June 30, down 5% from $427 billion a …