Thursday , April 25, 2024

John Stewart

Starting as an editor on Bank Network News at Faulkner & Gray, John ultimately played a key role in starting, editing, and publishing many of F&G's flagship publications, including Credit Card Management, Card Technology, Card Marketing, and Collections & Credit Risk. Before co-founding Boland Hill Media, John was a group publisher at Thomson Media responsible for a $10 million division embracing magazines, newsletters, and Web sites.

How the Coronavirus Scare Is Leading Some Experts to Look for a Boost in Contactless Payments

The global coronavirus scare has prompted a number of warnings that could end up benefiting electronic payments, particularly contactless transactions. Authorities ranging from the World Health Organization to doctors in local practices have warned this week about the risks of handling paper currency, and some have also cautioned against touching …

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Ant Financial Buys a Stake in Klarna, Lending Impetus to Online Installment Payments

Klarna Bank AB, a leading exemplar of the trend toward offering installment-plan payments online and at the point of sale, has received backing from Ant Financial Services Group in a deal that cements an existing alliance between the two companies and could add considerable propulsive force to Klarna’s relatively new …

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The Faster Payments Council Seeks a New Executive Director As Kim Ford Steps Down

Kimberly Ford will step down as executive director of the U.S. Faster Payments Council effective May 6 after just 11 months on the job, according to sources. Ford’s resignation was confirmed by an email to members sent Friday and obtained by Digital Transactions News. Applications for the position are being …

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Cash App Helps Drive Growth for a Surging Square

Cash App may be turning into the product that ate Square Inc. The company on Wednesday reported a big fourth quarter for the 4-year-old product as officials pointed to a strong performance overall for the full year. “2019 was a very good year for us,” Square chief executive Jack Dorsey …

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EBay Sets Its Sights on the U.K. As It Prepares to ‘Go Hard’ With Its Managed-Payments Plan

Online marketplace giant eBay Inc. said last month it has an aggressive expansion blueprint for its fledgling managed-payments program, and late on Wednesday the company announced its latest gambit by laying out a plan to move into the United Kingdom this summer. The service has been available in the United …

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Ajay Banga, Architect of Mastercard’s ‘Multi-Rail’ Strategy, Will Step Down As CEO in January

Ajay Banga, chief executive of Mastercard Inc. for the past decade and the strategist who converted what had been mostly a consumer card network into a player in non-card and real-time payments, said Tuesday he will step down Jan. 1 as CEO. He will then assume the role of executive …

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Shopify Joins Libra, Defying a Wave of Defections From the Cryptocurrency Venture

The controversial Libra cryptocurrency project gained a new member Friday with Shopify Inc.’s announcement it will join the Libra Association, the governing body for the fledgling venture. Shopify’s decision comes in the face of a string of eight high-profile defections from the association since October, including decisions by Mastercard Inc., …

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Fiserv Launches PIN-Based Contactless Payments on Nothing More Than Sellers’ Mobile Phones

Fiserv Inc. said this week its First Data unit has performed the first PIN-on-mobile contactless transaction involving only a commercially available mobile device. Observers say the breakthrough could expand the availability of PIN-on-mobile technology significantly by allowing small merchants like food-truck operators and other mobile sellers to accept card payments …

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As Mobile Wallets Proliferate Globally, Pricing Emerges As a Key Tactic for Growth

Mobile wallets aren’t the revolutionary products they were a few years ago, but as more and more entities launch new ones across the world, the apps are getting much more diverse and cheaper to use. That’s because, while sponsors continue to battle for adoption, they’re finding pricing to be a …

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A German Company Unveils a Checkout Buster That Relies on Breakthroughs in RFID Scanning

As merchants and their technology partners continue to develop technology to ditch the familiar checkout, a German entrant on Monday demonstrated a system that would use radio-frequency identification to charge customers as they walk out with their goods. The system, dubbed “payfree,” involves an app that consumers would install in …

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