Mastercard reported a strong third quarter on Thursday as it builds out the foundations for a near-term future in which it sees itself playing a central role in new transaction flows involving account-to-account (A2A) transfers and digital-currency payments. Mastercard has been laying the groundwork for A2A business for at least …

American Express Co. launched a fully digital business checking account for U.S. small and mid-sized businesses that includes the first-ever AmEx-issued debit card. The account also connects with existing AmEx credit cards.FIS Inc.’s Worldpay merchant-acquiring unit will provide payment services to Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals under a new agreement. The pact includes …

Global merchant dollar volume grew 20% in the third quarter year-over-year for processor Fiserv Inc., while global e-commerce volume increased 21%, the company reported. Overall global transactions expanded 16%. The company did not report actual figures. Revenue for the quarter was $3.96 billion, up 10%. Year-to-date revenue was $11.37 billion, an …

Independent software vendors can integrate technology directly into Fiserv Inc.’s Clover point-of-sale terminals under Fiserv’s new platform-as-a-service program, the company announced.Processor Usio Inc. signed an agreement with independent software vendor BoosterHub LLC that will integrate Usio’s payment services into BoosterHub’s cloud-based software for thousands of school booster clubs.Payment gateway Cardknox Inc. said its processing capabilities can …

As part of its strategy to become a full-service payments provider and serve a wider consumer base, buy now, pay later provider Sezzle Inc. on Monday announced a partnership with Alliance Data Systems Corp. to offer Alliance Data’s Bread installment-loan service to Sezzle merchants. The partnership builds on a deal …

Nium Pte. Ltd., a fintech specializing in payments and card issuance for businesses, launched what it calls crypto-as-a-service technology and extended its banking-as-a-service platform to the U.S. market. The former technology supports banks that want to add services supporting cryptocurrency investment.In related news, ACI Worldwide Inc. announced its ACI Secure Commerce unit will offer …

International payments provider Klarna Bank AB acquired Inspirock, an online trip planner used by 25 million customers annually. Terms were not disclosed.In related news, Klarna said it is working with software-as-a-service platform provider Wix.com Inc. to enable Wix’s e-commerce merchants in 17 countries to accept payments through Klarna.Processor Lightspeed Commerce Inc. expanded its Lightspeed Capital program …

American Express Co. said it and Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking are collaborating on a cloud-based payments service for large corporate clients. AmEx’s virtual cards will be available in the Goldman Sachs TxB platform, which already offers automated clearing house, wire, and foreign currency payments.A study from Alliance Data Systems Corp. indicates 27% of …

In a move aimed in part at accommodating digital-only financial institutions, Visa Inc. on Saturday opened its ReadyLink prepaid top-up network for the first time to debit cards. “The expansion makes Visa ReadyLink available to all consumer and business debit cards. The service is optional and issuers need to opt-in,” …

As part of its strategy to support application developers, open-banking platform provider Plaid Inc. this week introduced at its developer conference several tools to help developers create a broader range of financial technology applications regardless of the programming language developers use. The new suite of tools include Plaid Pattern apps, which …