With students not in school, the closure of restaurants and bars, and work-from-home edicts in place, consumer spending is shifting. Witness that in the week of March 9-15, the payment volume made with dipped EMV cards fell 5.17% from the week prior and mag-stripe volume fell 13.07%, according to the …
Read More »Chargeback Gurus Issues Coronavirus Chargeback Guidance and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/20/20
Chargeback Gurus released guidance on the potential for chargebacks as consumers and merchants contend with the effects of the coronavirus infection.Email-security firm Armorblox Inc. said it will provide its services free to companies with between 100 and 2,000 employees until April 30 to help guard against social-engineering attacks exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic.A cryptocurrency …
Read More »Shift4 To Suspend Some Fees, Joining Others in Crafting Ad Hoc SMB Relief Efforts
Payments providers are rallying support for small businesses, especially restaurants and hospitality merchants, contending with the effects of the coronavirus and urgent calls for social distancing. Just Tuesday, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak ordered all casinos and other nonessential businesses, such as personal health and beauty businesses, to close for 30 days. …
Read More »The Coronavirus Is Likely To Hit Payment Firms’ Volumes And Profits, But Just How Hard Is Unknown
So, how much will Covid-19 have affected payment card dollar and transaction volumes when the card networks and merchant processors report their first-quarter financials beginning in about a month? At this point, it’s way too early to tell. An early read might come Tuesday when American Express Co. is scheduled …
Read More »Nacha Cancels 2020 Payments Event and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/16/20
Nacha’s Smarter Faster Payments 2020 Conference has been canceled because of concerns related to the novel coronavirus. Nacha said it is trying to develop a free virtual event with select educational content. Next year’s conference is scheduled for April 25-28 in San Francisco.Dueling bills have been introduced in the Delaware Legislature that would …
Read More »NAB Debuts New Compensation Program and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/12/20
Payments provider North American Bancard LLC launched two new compensation programs for sales agents, including a restructured bonus program and a portfolio buyout program that includes an opportunity for qualified sales agents to have a portion of their residuals purchased.Processor Wirecard AG is partnering with point-of-sale credit specialist Klarna AB to integrate all of …
Read More »Short-Term Coronavirus Impacts Are Unlikely To Hurt Long-Term Payments Viability, Analysts Say
As consumers and businesses contend with the uncertainty spawned by the coronavirus outbreak, payments companies will feel the effects, perhaps more than they’ve already announced. Though neither of the two larger U.S. card networks—Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc.—have updated their recent revisions to their financial guidance, some analysts suggest the impact …
Read More »Dual-Interface Chip Card Sales Lift CPI Card Group
As the payments industry reeled Monday morning during yet another wild session on Wall Street, card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. provided a glimmer of hopeful news when it reported improving financials thanks in part to growing sales of dual-interface cards. Littleton, Colo. based CPI said fourth-quarter sales in its …
Read More »SurchX Sold to InterPrivate and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/9/20
Private-equity firm InterPrivate LLC announced the acquisition of SurchX, a payments provider offering surcharging programs. SurchX was renamed InterPayments. Terms were not disclosed.ParTech Inc., a subsidiary of PAR Technology Corp., announced an application programming interface integration with eTouchMenu, a digital-menu provider, and ParTech’s Brink POS software.Priority Payment Systems, a subsidiary of …
Read More »How the Coronavirus Scare Is Leading Some Experts to Look for a Boost in Contactless Payments
The global coronavirus scare has prompted a number of warnings that could end up benefiting electronic payments, particularly contactless transactions. Authorities ranging from the World Health Organization to doctors in local practices have warned this week about the risks of handling paper currency, and some have also cautioned against touching …
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