Issuing/Originating

Consumers plan to increase the number of gift cards they purchase this year by 12%, compared to 2022, and increase the value loaded on those cards by 7%, according to research from card platform Blackhawk Inc. released Tuesday. Blackhawk’s survey found that 37% of respondents have purchased more gift cards …

Merchant volume is surging ahead for Global Payments Inc. as the big processor looks to further acquisitions following its absorption of EVO Payments Inc. in March and pursues a strategy of signing up companies it calls “profacs,” or payments facilitators that rely on Global for key functions like merchant underwriting …

Payments technology provider Verifone Holdings Inc. announced Mike Kohlsdorf has joined the company as chief executive, succeeding Mike Pulli. Kohlsdorf’s background includes CEO positions with eight portfolio companies of Verifone backer Francisco Partners. Pulli has been CEO since 2018. Payments technology firm Weave, a specialist in small and medium-size businesses, announced an expansion …

Gross dollar volume on prepaid and other debit cards issued by The Bancorp Bank grew 15% year-over-year in the second quarter, and the bank expects volume growth will exceed that rate in 2024 as it expands existing programs and books new partners. Dollar volume hit $32.8 billion for the quarter, …

Visa Inc.’s top brass, during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call Tuesday afternoon, preferred to talk about fast-growing newer lines of business such as value-added services and transaction sources apart from traditional plastic credit and debit cards. But stock analysts on the call had questions about some sensitive merchant-relations issues, …

The latest battle in the war over the proposed Credit Card Competition Act has focused on the question whether the legislation would cut rewards and other benefits for cardholders. Citing research from the consulting firm CMSPI, the Merchants Payments Coalition, a lobbying group for sellers, argues that passage of the …

Six years after its launch, the RTP Network surpassed 500 million real-time payments on Saturday, network operator The Clearing House Payments Co. reported Monday. The announcement at least temporarily shines the spotlight back onto the current leader in real-time payments in the wake of last week’s much-anticipated launch of the …

American Express Co. is working to sign more card deals like the one it has with merchants using Block Inc.’s Square merchant-processing unit, while cardholder spending and revenue for the company have rebounded to hit record quarterly highs, top executives for the travel-and-entertainment giant said early Friday. The good news …

Discover Financial Services late Wednesday reported net income of $901 million for the second quarter of 2023, down 18% from a year earlier. Credit card loans for the quarter totaled $94 billion, a 19% year-over-year increase. As part of its earnings statement, Discover stated that “the comparative prior quarter ended …

The Federal Reserve’s instant-payment service, FedNow, is officially live with 35 banks and credit unions participating, the nation’s banking regulator announced early Thursday. The launch, which culminates four years of work since the Fed first announced its intention to build a real-time payments rail, comes as the payments industry moves …