The three months ended March 31 were an eventful time for Apple Inc., as they were for most companies, but unlike many the company managed to largely contain the damage wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We’ve seen our products take on renewed interest” in the wake of Covid-19 and the …
Read More »Shelter-in-Place Policies Give eBay a Lift As Its Managed-Payments Platform Expands
E-commerce sites have been beneficiaries of shelter-at-home policies, and on Wednesday eBay Inc. indicated its marketplace has been no exception. But growth was tempered by a downdraft in classified listings and a widening trend toward state Internet sales taxes, the company said. Meanwhile, eBay’s venture into running payments for sellers …
Read More »Amid Covid-19, a Mobile App Emerges for Remote Check-in And Payments at Clinics
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been much talk about managing exposure in stores and other public places with technology such as contactless payments. But now a company has launched mobile technology to help protect patients as well as caregivers from infection at the doctor’s office. The …
Read More »As Online Usage Surges, Watch Out for an Even Bigger Jump in Fraud, Experts Warn
Payments fraud was already rising, and now experts predict increased online usage brought on by stay-at-home orders will only exacerbate the trend. While losses haven’t shown up yet, e-commerce activity taking place now is sowing the seeds of a dramatic jump in coming months. “Fraud is always a trailing activity,” …
Read More »A Plunge in T&E Spending Hits AmEx As It Copes With the Pandemic’s Worldwide Impact
A trend toward a near-total collapse in travel-and-entertainment spending helped drive down overall first-quarter card volume and discount revenue for American Express Co., the company reported Friday. “March was a very difficult month,” Stephen Squeri, AmEx’s chairman and chief executive, told stock analysts during a morning conference call. As with …
Read More »Prepaid Specialist Blackhawk Rolls Out Digital Rewards And Gets Set to Launch a Donation Site
With consumers contending with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, rewards offered by the card networks could take on added importance. Blackhawk Network is counting on that, and has introduced a capability for mobile-phone users to add digital rewards to their Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay wallets. Working …
Read More »Synchrony Sounds Notes of Cautious Optimism As the Pandemic Takes Its Toll
The nation’s largest issuer of store cards sounded a note of optimism Tuesday as the Covid-19 crisis continued to ravage consumer spending. “Believe it or not, there are deals in the pipeline [with merchants],” said Margaret Keane, chief executive of Synchrony Financial. “We’re not sitting back. We’re highly engaged.” Keane …
Read More »Yiftee Adds Facebook And Instagram Promotion to Support Digital Gift Cards for Local Merchants
Among payment devices, gift cards are unique in that they can promote a business as well as enable payments at the store or online. That’s an edge at a time of a pandemic, and now technology platforms that support digital gift cards are leveraging that advantage. Yiftee Inc. late on …
Read More »The Libra Association Modifies Its Basic Plan in Response to Regulatory Concerns
Under pressure for months from governments and regulators worldwide, the Libra cryptocurrency venture has applied for a key payments-system license and changed course on a number of its prime strategies, including setting out new plans for single-currency stablecoins and a stronger compliance regime. FINMA, the Swiss financial regulator, confirmed Thursday …
Read More »BofA Reports Booming Zelle Numbers as America Copes With Stay-at-Home Policies
If the first quarter of the year is any indication, person-to-person payments might be getting a big lift as stay-at-home consumers look for safe ways to pay in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak. Bank of America Corp. reported Wednesday transactions on its Zelle platform shot up 76% compared to …
Read More »