The Federal Trade Commission announced settlements with the two principals of Apex Capital Group, an Internet marketer of dietary supplements and personal-care products the FTC accused of using deceptive free-trial offers and negative-option billing in the U.S. and United Kingdom. The defendants must surrender assets valued at $3 million or more and are barred …

Many payment executives regard the United States as a mature market compared with high-growth countries in Asia and Latin America, but it still has plenty of untapped opportunities, according to Mastercard Inc. executives. Its home country remains Mastercard’s largest market. As of 2018, the U.S. accounted for 33% of Mastercard’s …

Speedier funding of merchant accounts has become a key part of the faster-payments trend as sellers seek ways to gain a competitive edge, and on Tuesday JPMorgan Chase & Co. entered the fray with a same-day deposit service for merchants that bank with Chase. The new service, which is being …

The Federal Reserve’s proposed FedNow real-time payments service won’t be live for more than three years, but bankers and other interested parties peppered two Fed officials with plenty of questions about it Monday. The occasion was a 90-minute webinar in which the officials reviewed the ambitious FedNow plans unveiled last …

With fintechs nipping at their heels, the payment card networks are buying up companies big and small in a range of industries. How far will the networks venture beyond their core business—and at what price? Mergers and acquisitions tend to come in fits and starts, and lately M&A activity involving …

With real-time payments in the headlines these days, it’s not surprising payments companies are jumping on the faster-payments bandwagon (more on this in “The New Reality in Real-Time Payments,” this issue). But some, like PayPal Holdings Inc., are finding ways to use speedier funds to bolster revenue. PayPal last month …

Are the big card networks no longer content to be card networks? You might be excused for thinking so if you looked at the buying binge Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc. have embarked over the past year or so—with some participation from American Express Co., as well. Much of this …

Despite very few stores in Wisconsin refusing to accept cash payments, a member of the state Assembly recently introduced a bill that would require merchants to accept cash for face-to-face purchases, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. The bill would impose fines of $200 up to $5,000 for violations. Similar proposals have passed or are pending in …

Rite Aid Corp. selected Bank of America Merchant Services to process transactions at its 2,400 stores nationwide and on its Web site. BAMS processes under an agreement with First Data Corp., now part of Fiserv Inc., though the companies announced July 30 the collaboration will end next year.The 7-Eleven Inc. convenience-store chain has launched in …

Apple Inc. made its upcoming Apple Card available to the public on a limited basis. The full rollout of the card—which was unveiled in March, is issued by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and runs on the Mastercard network—is expected later in the month.Automated clearing house network administrator Nacha said it is “committed to working cooperatively …