Debit Cards

Mastercard Inc. said it is purchasing Ethoca Inc., a fraud-mitigation firm, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. Ethoca works with more than 5,000 merchants and 4,000 financial institutions. Mastercard intends to expand Ethoca’s capabilities and combine the company with its current security …

With $2.28 billion in losses over the past three years, ride-share provider Lyft Inc. is looking to cut costs—and payment-card acceptance expenses won’t be spared. San Francisco-based Lyft outlined several initiatives it already has started or is planning in a filing earlier this month with the Securities and Exchange Commission …

Mastercard Inc. has called a halt to its bidding war with Visa Inc. over cross-border business-to-business payments processor Earthport PLC and instead plans to acquire another company in the space, Transfast Remittance LLC. Mastercard announced a tentative deal to buy New York City-based money-transfer provider Transfast Friday. Transfast is a …

EVO Payments Inc. continues its European expansion with the acquisition of Way2Pay, an Ireland-based payment gateway. Announced Monday, the deal gives the Melville, N.Y.-based company entry to integrated payments for schools and clubs in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Terms were not disclosed. “We see significant value in expanding Way2Pay …

Repay Holdings LLC said its 2018 payment volume increased 42% to $7.5 billion from $5.2 billion in 2017. Its net income increased 12% to $10.5 million from $9.4 million. Repay is in the midst of a pending merger with Thunder Bridge Acquisition Ltd. Net Element Inc. unit Unified Payments will …

A bank’s ability to deliver convenience and security is a high-stakes balancing act. Consumers value secure applications, but they don’t want the hassle that often accompanies multiple points of authentication. They want easy-to-use applications that facilitate fast and seamless financial transactions.  There has been no shortage of data breaches over …

American vacationers flock every year to the scenic islands of the Caribbean, and some day they might be using a digital version of the East Caribbean dollar to pay for a Rum Punch or Ting With a Sting. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the monetary authority for the eight-country Eastern …

Cardlytics Inc. continues to ramp up its rewards platform to accommodate an expected tens of millions of new users coming from new big-bank clients, but revenue growth will lag customer growth for some time, company executives signaled this week. Atlanta-based Cardlytics’s main product, Cardlytics Direct, provides merchant-funded offers to consumers …

PayActiv Inc. will use the Visa Direct platform from Visa Inc. to offer real-time deposits of earned funds to its clients’ employees. The funds can be loaded onto a Visa debit or reloadable prepaid card. PayActiv also launched its own Visa-branded general-purpose reloadable prepaid card. Testing lab Q-Card Co. said …

Fewer consumers fell victim to payment card fraud in 2018, but fraud victims picked up more of the financial losses, according to Javelin Strategy & Research’s latest annual identity-fraud study. Based on the results of its 16th annual identity-fraud study, Javelin estimates that payment-related fraud affected 14.4 million consumers last …