Friday , April 19, 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.

Phoenix-Like, a Bill Aimed at Controlling Credit Card Acceptance Costs Rises Again

The Credit Card Competition Act is making a comeback, this time with more bipartisan support. The bill, originally launched last summer by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan,), is expected to be reintroduced in the Senate, apparently with few changes, as early as this week, according to an …

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Gr4vy And Spreedly Launch New Vaults As Merchants Contend With Payments Complexity

Two major practitioners of the art of payments orchestration have announced cloud-based payments vaults within hours of each other. Both new services, from Spreedly Inc. and Gr4vy Inc., promise sophisticated management of a wide range of payments data in a bid for more efficient transaction routing and settlement on behalf …

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As New Services Roil P2P, Fiserv Gets Set to Shut Down Its Popmoney Network

Fiserv Inc. will discontinue its longstanding Popmoney peer-to-peer payments service on June 30, the processing giant said, following notices being posted by participating banks. The move comes as the processing giant shifts its priorities to supporting the bank-owned Zelle network, according to a Fiserv spokesperson. “Due to the tremendous success …

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Disbursement Platform Onbe Adds PayPal And Venmo

Citing a strong user preference for PayPal and Venmo, the digital-disbursements provider Onbe early Tuesday said it is adding the two channels to its menu of payment choices. The move brings two major payments platforms to the Chicago-based company’s payout options, which includes the mobile -payments providers Apple Pay and …

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U.S. Investors Are Optimistic About Bitcoin in the Face of the Coin’s Recent Travails

U.S. investment managers have grown bullish about Bitcoin’s prospects despite recent events that have roiled digital-currency markets, research released Wednesday indicates. Feeding the renewed optimism are prospects for “improved regulation” and expectations of a “recovery in valuations” for Bitcoin, according to the research, in which 30 major investment managers were …

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PayPal Opens Venmo to Teenage Children of PayPal Users

PayPal Holdings Inc. announced early Monday it is launching a version of its Venmo peer-to-peer payment service tailored for teenagers. With the new program, parents holding a Venmo account can open one for a child aged 13 to 17 that will include a Mastercard debit card. Parents can exercise control …

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Lightspeed Touts Results As It Tightens Its Focus on Restaurants

Few, if any, business sectors are as hotly competitive these days for payments providers as hospitality, and in particular, restaurants. Major firms from Block Inc.’s Square unit to Toast Inc. to Shift4 Payments Inc. have big stakes in this market. But that hasn’t stopped one other entrant, Lightspeed Commerce Inc., …

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Paysafe Gains Momentum As CEO Lowthers Completes His First Year at the Helm

Paysafe Ltd. has been all about growth since Bruce Lowthers took over a year ago as chief executive, and on Tuesday he contended the London-based processor is expanding nicely in its key wallet and iGaming markets. “We returned to growth in the second half of 2022,” Lowthers told equity analysts …

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As FedNow Gears up for Launch, Processors Ready Smaller Clients

Jack Henry & Associates Inc., one of the earliest participants in the Federal Reserve’s nascent FedNow real-time payments platform, said early Monday it is “operationally ready” to support the service when it launches commercially in July. The Monett, Mo.-based processor said more than 20 client institutions are set to connect …

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Mid-Market Specialists in Small And Medium Merchants Report Quarterly Gains

Mid-size payments processors have contended with a pandemic, a sharply rising cost of funds, and pronounced inflation over the past few years, but that hasn’t stopped them from capturing volume, particularly from the small and medium-size merchants that have long been their specialty. In results reported early Thursday, Alpharetta, Ga.-based …

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