Issuing/Originating

Escalent Inc., an analytics and advisory firm, said it acquired Mercator Advisory Group, adding to its payments advisory portfolio. Escalent acquired Javelin Strategy & Research in 2019. Current Mercator president and chief executive Robert Misasi will help with the transition before leaving these positions.MoneyGram International Inc. agreed to pay a civil monetary penalty of …

Payments-technology provider XTM Inc. said it has added Apple Pay and Google Pay to its U.S. Today mobile wallet. The company says it has rolled out more than 100,000 wallets so far.Payments provider Nuvei Corp. said it will process payments for cryptocurrency by holders of the Ledger hardware wallet. With the agreement, holders can buy crypto …

CloudPay, a provider of employee payment solutions, is partnering with Visa Inc. to enable payroll to be deposited directly to employee debit or credit cards through Visa Direct, Visa Inc.’s real-time payment network The new service is expected to provide employees immediate access to their funds compared to the two …

Underscoring the rising profile of open banking in consumers’ financial lives, Green Dot Corp. early Tuesday said it has completed an integration for its GO2bank mobile banking app with the Plaid Exchange network from Plaid Inc. The move will connect users of Green Dot’s app, launched only in January last …

Buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Inc. said its fiscal quarter-to-date financial metrics exceeded its expectations, leading it to revise its financial outlook. Affirm on Feb. 10 had expected its gross merchandise volume to be no more than $3.71 billion, but now says it will be at least that much.Aplazo, a buy …

Having held off for the past two years, the country’s two biggest card networks are preparing revisions to their interchange schedules that at least one research firm says will cost U.S. merchants an estimated $475 million in additional transaction fees. Though Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have historically revised their …

With momentum accelerating behind faster payments on the automated clearing house, fraud prevention is taking on a higher profile at the nation’s banks. In the latest move, Bank of America Corp. on Thursday introduced ACH Positive Pay on its CashPro mobile app. The move will let app users review and …

E-commerce platform eBay Inc. announced it is launching a digital wallet, its first, to allow sellers to use proceeds from their sales to make purchases or pay for selling expenses.The Western Union Co. has suspended operations in Russia and Belarus in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move follows decisions by other global …

The steady development of the cryptocurrency industry worldwide and domestically has led the executive branch of the federal government to lay the groundwork for regulation of these assets. The move, embodied in an executive order signed Wednesday by President Joe Biden, has drawn applause from some payments trade groups, though …

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact consumer finances and financial habits. On the one hand, since the onset of the pandemic, the bank deposits of American households have been at a record high, partially due to limited spending on entertainment and travel, reduced in-person shopping, and the receipt of …