With its merchant business under pressure because of the coronavirus pandemic, Square Inc. is yet again spying new opportunities for its consumer-facing Cash App, whose core feature is person-to-person payments. This time, Square is rolling out regularly scheduled purchases of Bitcoin and stocks for Cash App users. Square chief executive …
Read More »Recovery in Card Usage Gathers Steam Among Credit-Union Members
Even though credit card spending is still depressed as a result of the Covid-19 economic downturn, payment card volume trends have now been improving for a month or more, according to new data from credit-union service organization PSCU. St. Petersburg, Fla.-based PSCU reported Monday that overall credit card spending by …
Read More »Priority Technology’s Sales Machine Kept Humming Even While Payment Volume Plunged 27%
It was a nasty April for Priority Technology Holdings Inc. as the Covid-19 business downturn tightened its grip, but the merchant acquirer is looking to integrated payments and other growth areas to soften the blow. “In the month of April we processed roughly $2.7 billion in volume, which was down …
Read More »Mastercard Says New Data Show Spending Headed Toward ‘Normalization Phase’
New network data from Mastercard Inc. show U.S. switched volume is off 6% year-over-year for the week ending May 7 compared with a 26% decline in the week ending April 30. Mastercard on Thursday released two more weeks of network data, for the weeks ending May 7 and April 28, …
Read More »Get Ready for the ‘Global Reset’ in Payments Spurred by Covid-19
The world’s response to Covid-19 already has accelerated trends underway in the payments business, and pandemic-spurred innovations will continue after the contagion eases, according to three senior industry executives. “The impacts of Covid-19 represent a true global reset of the entire market, not just our payments market,” said Philip McHugh, …
Read More »Eye on Acquirers: ‘Signs of Hope’ for Restaurants; ISO Parent Newtek Funds $700 Million in PPP Loans
Merchant processor Shift4 Payments LLC reported Monday it has seen a big jump in restaurant payments in the past week, and the parent company of independent sales organization Newtek Merchant Solutions says it has approved and funded $700 million in loans to small businesses under the federal government’s Covid-19 relief …
Read More »EVO Payments Says Inactive Merchants Coming Back to Life During Nascent Economic Revival
After suffering through a 40% year-over-year decline in payment volume because of the Covid-19 pandemic, merchant processor EVO Payments Inc. says many merchants that went dormant are generating transactions again. Atlanta-based EVO’s active merchant count declined by about 35% during the worst part of the pandemic-induced business slowdown in mid-April, …
Read More »Despite a Big Quarterly Loss, Square Eyes Bright Spots in the New Covid-19 Environment
Square Inc.’s seller volume is down and its net loss more than doubled to $106 million in the first quarter. But Square’s Cash App service is thriving during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Square expects its merchant business will more than recover. “We see significant opportunity to bring new sellers and …
Read More »Visa Postponing Most Interchange Rate Changes Until April 2021
Citing the business disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Visa Inc. announced late Tuesday that it will delay until next April most of the interchange rate changes it had planned for July. The network also publicly confirmed the six-month postponement of its EMV liability shift for fuel pumps, and further …
Read More »Visa Will Postpone Its Fuel-Pump EMV Liability Shift for Six Months, C-Store Group Says
Visa Inc. has informed petroleum retailers that it will delay its planned EMV fuel-pump liability shift set for October until April 17, 2021, the convenience-store trade group NACS disclosed Friday. “The network’s delay was in response to letters NACS sent on behalf of its retail members to the four global …
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