Competitive Strategies

With volumes rising fast in both e-commerce generally and in the buy now, pay later business, BNPL payments provider Klarna AB has made a play to secure its position in both markets. The company announced Friday it has acquired Hero Towers Ltd., a 6-year-old social-shopping service that lets consumers interact …

With Colorado Governor Jared Polis signing Senate Bill 21-091, repealing the state’s ban on credit card surcharging, Colorado has a surcharging law that not only ensures proper disclosure about surcharges to consumers, but mirrors the surcharging rules implemented by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. The new law, signed by Polis …

The U.S. Justice Department charged two individuals in a $19 million credit card laundering scheme. Arrested were Steven Short, former head of E.M. Systems & Services LLC on charges of fraudulently obtaining credit card processing services for his allegedly deceptive Florida-based telemarketing operation. From 2012 to 2015, Short and E.M. Systems, …

With his eponymous Durbin Amendment, passed into law just over a decade ago, Illinois’s senior senator intended to hurt large banks, along with Visa and Mastercard. The text, however, couldn’t be as expressly punitive as Durbin might have liked. He would likely have preferred capping debit interchange and network acquirer …

Consumer usage of buy now, pay later has increased significantly over the last couple of years. Research from Auriemma Consulting Group Inc. reveals the number of debit card holders offered a BNPL option in-store or online increased more than 10 percentage points between the first quarter of 2019 and the …

U.S. retail sales increased 11% in June from June 2020, according to the latest Mastercard Inc. SpendingPulse report. They were up 10.4% compared to June 2019. E-commerce sales increased 8.3% year-over-year and were up 95% over June 2019.Payments provider Paysafe Ltd. launched a program that lets travel businesses accepting consumer payments to use a …

The SPAC trend has come to the blockchain industry. Circle Internet Financial Inc. announced early Thursday it has agreed to be acquired by Concord Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in a deal that will take Circle public and values the 8-year-old company at $4.5 billion. That valuation would …

With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating the adoption of digital payments, it was only a matter of time before payments providers began pushing the technology beyond mainstream merchants, such as retailers and restaurants, and down to professions with specialized needs, such as realtors, attorneys, and healthcare providers.     DepositLink Inc., a Boston-based …

As the gig economy grows, startups are emerging to meet an expanding market for payment. An especially ambitious example is Willa Inc., which on Wednesday announced an $18-million Series A funding round led by FinTech Collective and including sums from existing investors EQT Ventures and Entrée Capital. The Ventura, Calif.-based …

As consumers return to physical stores, Splitit USA Inc., a buy now, pay later provider, announced it is making its service available in-store and including availability with Apple Pay and Google Pay.Fly Now Pay Later, a United Kingdom-based fintech, announced a deal with Cross River Bank in New Jersey that will …