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 …

First Data Corp. and Fiserv Inc. expect to close Monday on Fiserv’s $22-billion acquisition of First Data. The deal, announced in January, has received final required regulatory approvals and non-objections, First Data said. First Data announced $2.49 billion in revenue for the second quarter, up 2% year-over-year.A group of Congressional Democrats, including presidential …

Fraud-control executives and researchers predicted card-not-present fraud would boom when the U.S. converted to EMV chip cards a few years ago, and, sure enough, it did. But if the experiences of other countries that adopted EMV before the U.S. are any guide, Americans can take relief in that CNP fraud …

Will the U.S. payments industry reach its goal of ubiquitous real-time payment capability by 2020? In part, the answer may depend on how “ubiquitous” is defined. When the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force wrapped up its work in July 2017, it set what seemed to be a challenging but …

For banks, introducing real-time bill pay is not enough. They must also spruce up the online and mobile experience. Some are starting to, but can they finally leave the biller-direct model in the dust? It’s been a long, steady retreat for banks in online bill payment. Since 2010, banks’ share …