October, 2020

• 1 October

  The Sudden Ascent of QR Codes

  

  Efficient and fast, the funky-looking barcodes are having their day in the sun as the Covid-19 pandemic channels consumers toward contactless payments. It has become commonplace to observe that the Covid-19 pandemic has energized contactless payments, and all the numbers seem to bear that out. But contactless at the point …

September, 2020

• 1 September

  Why Wall Street Loves Payments

  

  Shift4 Payments dazzled the payments industry and Wall Street with its June initial public offering. What do recent processor IPOs say about the prospects for payments companies? No investment in the stock market is a sure winner, but payments investments often prove to be better than others. On June 4, …

July, 2020

• 1 July

  How the Pandemic Changed Payments (Permanently)

  

  A deadly disease has proven a boon for some key trends while threatening cash and opening new avenues for fraud. An industry whose closest familiarity with viruses has come from the kind that infects computers has for most of this year had to contend with a pathogen that has sickened …

June, 2020

• 1 June

  Cooking up a Comeback

  

  Restaurants and point-of-sale providers alike are scrambling to stage a fast recovery from an induced coronavirus coma. Success will depend on technologies like contactless payments and online ordering. Americans love dining out. In 2020, restaurant industry sales were originally projected to grow for the 11th consecutive year, reaching a record …

May, 2020

• 1 May

  12th Annual Field Guide to Innovative Payments

  

  The guide has a slightly different name now, but the same purpose—to seek out and describe the nonbank players, apart from the big networks, that are rewriting the rules for the digital exchange of value. Since 2004, Digital Transactions has traced the course of payments innovation through its nimblest practitioners—the …

April, 2020

• 1 April

  The Surging ACH

  

  No, that’s not an oxymoron. The big, 46-year-old network, with links to virtually every bank in the country, is on a growth tear. Here’s why. One of the biggest untold stories in the payments industry lies ready to hand for anyone who wants to check the numbers. It’s about a …

March, 2020

• 1 March

  In the Wake of the Mega-Mergers

  

  2019 saw three of the biggest combinations in the history of the electronic payment business. The deals closed months ago. What happens now? Gotten over merger shock yet? Well, fasten your seat belt. The effects from last year’s trio of mega-combinations are likely to ripple through the payments industry for …

February, 2020

• 1 February

  The Payoff in Payouts

  

  Disbursements once were a staid business dominated by checks and ACH direct deposits. No more, thanks to the rise of the gig economy and new payout technology. When they’re owed something, 21st Century consumers aren’t satisfied with waiting to get a check, and waiting again for it to clear. They …

January, 2020

• 1 January

  The Crisis in Authentication

  

  PINs are past their prime. Signatures? Forget it. With criminals increasingly on the prowl, much more robust technology is needed. The good news is such tech is available. But will consumers tolerate it? Despite a now almost 3-year-old decision by the four major U.S. card brands to make signatures optional …

December, 2019

• 1 December

  “Scripting the Future”

  

  Foundational changes in payments — the emergence of fintechs, a mobile-first approach by consumers, and the digitization of payment methods — are altering vital relationships in the industry. Two thousand twenty may be the year that many of the underlying changes various payments players have made in the last few …