China has committed itself to digital money. The world, looking upon China as the second-biggest market on the planet, is watching—and following suit. The step is colossal and risky, as it can catapult national economies in a spectacular way. The announcement in June of Facebook Inc.’s Libra project spurred this …

It’s still at least three years off, but it’s none too soon for bankers and payments executives to be wondering exactly how the Federal Reserve’s planned FedNow real-time payments service will shape up. What will be the pricing, what about disputed transactions, and just what exactly is a real-time payment, …

Ever signed up for a free trial subscription and then forgotten about it, only to find out you’ve roped yourself into receiving an unwanted service or publication on an ongoing basis? Both bank card networks have now implemented or plan to implement stricter rules on so-called negative-option billing and subscriptions …

No sooner did Facebook Inc. pull the covers off its Libra cryptocurrency project this past June than the social-media giant ran into a buzzsaw of criticism—from Congress, central bankers, the press, and seemingly right-thinkers everywhere on the planet. Seldom has a payments announcement—let alone one that has to do with …

The New York attorney general is suing Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. for allegedly violating the state’s data-breach notification act by failing to notify nearly 20,000 customers that their Dunkin’ accounts had been compromised in a series of brute force cyberattacks beginning in 2015. Hackers also gained unauthorized access to more than 300,000 accounts in …

The recently completed acquisition of Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) by Global Payments Inc. is “the best of the bunch” among the three megamergers in the payment-processing industry this year, investment research firm Morningstar Inc. says in a new report. The Global-TSYS deal “has the most capacity to reduce costs …

Policymakers have much work ahead when reviewing cryptocurrencies like the proposed Libra, a European regulator said Wednesday. In related news, a cryptocurrency payment plugin debuts for WordPress. The Libra cryptocurrency project led by Facebook Inc. has “undoubtedly been a wake-up call for central banks and policymakers,” said Benoit Coeure, a …

American Express Co. posted an online guide for consumers about contactless cards. Beginning in July of 2019, all newly issued AmEx consumer and small-business cards are contactless-enabled, and starting next month all newly issued corporate cards will be contactless-enabled.P97 Networks, a provider of mobile payments and rewards programs for petroleum retailers, …

One of the longest-running antitrust lawsuits in the payments industry is getting into gear again with a new request by independent ATM deployers for class certification in their action against Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The National ATM Council Inc. (NAC) trade group and 13 ATM independent sales organizations originally …

Merchant processor Square Inc. on Nov. 1 will drop its longstanding 2.75% point-of-sale rate for a new pricing plan of 2.6% plus 10 cents. Based on recent U.S. purchase dollar- and transaction-volume statistics from the bank card networks, Digital Transactions News calculates the new pricing plan will generate about 1% …