Competitive Strategies

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews Alphabet Inc.’s Android Pay mobile wallet made some headlines recently with the company’s announcement that the app would be available to Masterpass and Visa Checkout users for Softcard mobile-payments venture managed by leading telecom companies. Smart Tap is available now in all U.S. Walgreen’s stores as …

• RYDE Technologies Inc. launched an overhauled version of its ride-hailing app RYDE, first launched last year to compete with Uber and Lyft. As with other such apps, RYDE processes payments in the background against a stored card, summons taxicabs and black cars rather than private vehicles. • The Bancorp Inc., …

By Jim Daly@DTPayment News Most of the chatter about how the debit card market has changed in the five years since the Durbin Amendment took effect centers on what market leader Visa Inc. is doing, or how the electronic funds transfer networks are maneuvering to stay alive and grow. But …

• Early Warning Services LLC, a fraud-management company, announced an alliance with NuData Security that enables Early Warning to use behavioral analytics and risk assessment as part of its authentication platform. • Money-transfer revenue for MoneyGram International totaled $339.6 million for the third quarter, up 5% on a constant-currency basis …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews The ride-sharing service Uber is strongly associated with mobile apps, not with plastic. But prepaid card providers such as Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. are finding new opportunities in the so-called sharing economy exemplified by Uber, in which drivers using their own vehicles offer taxi-like services to riders. …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Retailer Kohl’s Corp. plans to tweak its newly launched OmnyPay Inc. The service works only with the Kohl’s Charge card, issued by Capital One N.A. Lavu predicts Kohl’s Pay will generate copious amounts of data, especially given that enrollment in the app is up by 70% following …

• Financial-institution processor Fiserv Inc. said its payments segment posted adjusted revenues of $701 million in the third quarter, up 9% from $643 million a year earlier. Operating income rose 11.5% to $242 million. • Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced service changes in the U.S. and Mexico, and lower prices, involving …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews As payments firms seek to commercialize emerging online marketplaces, they’re starting to leverage automated routines that promise to overturn traditional transaction methods and, just possibly, deliver on the long-sought goal of so-called frictionless payments. This week, both MasterCard Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. announced new initiatives …

By Kevin Woodward@DTPaymentNews Consumers with Samsung Pay mobile-wallet accounts will be able to use them as a payment method for online transactions thanks to a partnership with Samsung Pay to shop using Masterpass starting in 2017. To use the service, consumers select the Masterpass button on a participating merchant’s e-commerce …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews You thought Visa Inc. was big already? Boosted by Visa Europe and solid growth in the U.S. and some other regions, the world’s largest card network’s credit and debit card payment volume grew 47% in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Foster City, Calif.-based Visa Inc. on Monday …