Competitive Strategies

As the nation’s automated clearing house network gears up to introduce same-day debits in September, observers are warning that faster processing is likely to open the door to more fraud unless businesses and financial institutions adopt new policies. Some caution the ACH network’s experience so far with same-day credits, which …

Gulf Pay, the mobile payment app from Gulf Oil L.P., is offering consumers who link their Discover cards to the app a 15-cents per gallon discount through Oct. 15. The promotion, announced Thursday, is valid at participating stations in New England and New York. Gulf Oil announced Gulf Pay in …

With the growth of payment-facilitator programs and integrated payments, merchant-service companies are expanding services to take advantage of the trends. The latest is Payroc LLC, which on Wednesday announced it has enhanced both its payments gateway and payment-facilitator program. Payfac programs, as they’re called, allow a merchant-service provider to aggregate …

Flywire Corp., a processor specializing in education payments and other cross-border transactions, said it notched “record results” over the past year in payments processed and students and institutions served. Among other results, the company said it added 300 schools, bringing its total to more than 1,300. REcoin, an emerging cryptocurrency intended …

• Technavio, a London-based technology-research firm, forecasts the global market for mobile card readers will grow at a 54% compound annual rate between 2017 and 2021. •  InterContinental Hotels Group, parent company of more than 5,000 hotels worldwide including Holiday Inn, says it is investigating claims of a possible credit card data breach at some …

With more than half a million electric cars on the road, businesses are looking at ways to boost the network of charging stations across the country and make it easier to pay for the increasing flow of electricity. Now a partnership announced Tuesday plans to put blockchain to work on …

What’s the future of electronic payments? For many consumers, it’s one that incorporates biometrics for authentication and payments, finds a survey from Viewpost IP Holdings LLC, a business-to-business payments provider. In the survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, Viewpost found that 50% believe fingerprint technology—already in use with many …

Payments provider North American Bancard Holdings LLC said it completed its acquisition of Total Merchant Services Inc. The combined company now processes nearly $50 billion in payments annually. FitPay Inc., a provider of payment-authentication technology, said it will offer prepaid capability on contactless-enabled wearable devices through a FitPay prepaid Mastercard. The program will allow …

Online-payments provider Stripe Inc. now allows merchants on its platform to accept payments from Chinese consumers through links to the China-based Alipay and WeChat Pay systems, Reuters reported. At a valuation of $9.2 billion, 7-year-old Stripe is the most valuable privately held payments startup. Alibaba Group, the China-based online marketplace, has launched the Taobao Group …

Israelis are much more likely to use mobile-banking apps and mobile wallets than Americans, but at least Americans are less inclined to use cash than Germans, according to a recent international survey of consumer usage of financial technology. The May survey of 5,860 adults in the United States, United Kingdom, …