Friday , March 29, 2024

Jim Daly

Jim Daly joined Digital Transactions in 2006 after covering payments and merchant acquiring at Thomson Media’s Credit Card Management, Credit Card News, and CardLine publications. Before that, he was a reporter and editor at the daily Leader-Telegram in Eau Claire, Wis.

One-Click Checkout Startup Fast Gets $20 Million from Investors, Including Stripe

A San Francisco-based startup that claims to have a better mousetrap for e-commerce checkouts has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by a prominent online merchant acquirer, Stripe Inc. Fast AF Inc. said it will use the funding to accelerate the global rollout of its upcoming …

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Square, Alliance Data Feel Merchants’ Covid-19 Pain

Merchant processor and business-software provider Square Inc. says some of its sellers have seen declines of 45% in payment volume in recent days, and private-label and cobranded card issuer Alliance Data Systems Corp. says business at its client merchants is softening.  Both companies held conference calls with analysts after the …

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Bridge, Tollway Authorities Toss Cash Acceptance Overboard, But Canadian Central Bank Urges Otherwise

Cash is fighting an uphill battle to remain a payment option during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Over the past week, a number of toll-highway and bridge authorities have ceased accepting cash to limit the spread of the highly infectious disease. According to local press reports, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Illinois …

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Womply Data Show How the Coronavirus Has KO’d Many Merchants

New findings from a software and business-services provider that examined what happened at thousands of small businesses last week show the damage the coronavirus, or Covid-19, is inflicting on merchants. San Francisco-based Oto Analytics Inc., which does business as Womply, looked at payment card data from its merchant-acquiring partners, data …

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Familiar Names Dominate New Rankings of U.S. Merchant Acquirers, With Chase Retaining the Lead

JPMorgan Chase & Co. led U.S. merchant acquirers last year with $1.51 trillion in dollar volume processed, according to new industry rankings announced Wednesday by The Strawhecker Group. Long a powerhouse in acquiring, Chase led 2018’s rankings with $1.4 trillion in volume. Retaining second place last year was Worldpay, with …

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American Express Expects Revenue Hit From Expanding Coronavirus Impacts

With the nation hunkering down to slow the spread of Covid-19, American Express Co. said Tuesday it expects its first-quarter revenues, adjusted for currency fluctuations, to grow only 2% to 4% year-over-year. In contrast, AmEx’s revenues net of interest expense rose 7% to $10.4 billion in 2019’s first quarter. In …

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The Coronavirus Is Likely To Hit Payment Firms’ Volumes And Profits, But Just How Hard Is Unknown

So, how much will Covid-19 have affected payment card dollar and transaction volumes when the card networks and merchant processors report their first-quarter financials beginning in about a month? At this point, it’s way too early to tell. An early read might come Tuesday when American Express Co. is scheduled …

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Eye on Covid-19: Payments Providers Hunker Down As an ATM Group Decries ‘The Scapegoating of Cash’

The electronic-payments industry is settling into a ride-it-out mode as panic selling resumed Thursday on Wall Street over the coronavirus, now deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened down 1,700 points, and most payments stocks went over the cliff with it. In late-morning …

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Ex-Twitter Execs Join a $50 Million Funding Round for Payment And Software Provider SpotOn

Fast-growing payment technology and software provider SpotOn Transact Inc. said Wednesday that it raised $50 million in a Series B funding round that included 01 Advisors, an investment firm led by three former Twitter Inc. executives.  SpotOn, which says its revenues increased by more than 150% in 2019, will use …

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Dual-Interface Chip Card Sales Lift CPI Card Group

As the payments industry reeled Monday morning during yet another wild session on Wall Street, card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. provided a glimmer of hopeful news when it reported improving financials thanks in part to growing sales of dual-interface cards. Littleton, Colo. based CPI said fourth-quarter sales in its …

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