Will Graylin, a payments entrepreneur and former Samsung Pay executive, launched OV Loop, which includes two voice-activated messaging products, OV App and OV Pro. OV App includes OV Pay, a single-tap payment application under development with financial institutions. Online merchants that don’t process local currencies fail to consummate 6% …
Read More »Visa Teams Up With SiriusXM in the Latest Connected-Car Development
The new year is only a week old, but it’s already looking to be a strong one for dashboard payments. On Monday, Visa Inc. and SiriusXM Connected Vehicles Services Inc. said they plan to offer the SiriusXM e-wallet to auto manufacturers that deploy SiriusXM’s connected-vehicle services. The Visa-SiriusXM announcement followed …
Read More »The Name-Dropping Network: Mastercard Erases Its Name From Its Logo
At first glance, a press released headlined “Mastercard Drops Its Name” might lead one to believe Mastercard will be the anonymous payment network going forward. But no, Mastercard Inc. is simply removing its name from its familiar interlocking circles logo, the company announced Monday. The name-drop marks the second time …
Read More »The Unicorn Herd Enrolled Yet More Fintech Members Last Year Following an Active 2017
The financial news has been full of dire stories about the beating tech stocks have been taking lately, but less well publicized is the action in private equity—specifically the creation of new payments-related unicorns. According to data from New York City-based CB Insights, which tracks private valuations, at least half …
Read More »Marriott Updates Breach Numbers, Says 354,000 Unexpired Cards Compromised
Hotel operator and franchisor Marriott International Inc. reported Friday that 8.6 million encrypted payment card records were compromised in the big data breach it disclosed Nov. 30. Of those, 354,000 cards were unexpired. The card statistics are included in an update Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott issued about the breach of the …
Read More »Processor Stocks Eke Out a 2018 Gain Despite a Bloody Fourth Quarter
It was a nasty December and fourth quarter, but transaction-processor stocks still beat the major market indexes in 2018, according to an analysis by Barrington Research Associates Inc. Twenty-six publicly traded processor stocks posted a mean return of 3.01% for the year versus a negative mean return of 6.24% for …
Read More »Net Element Adds Cash Flow From Portfolio Acquisitions and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/27/18
A subsidiary of Visa Inc. is offering to buy Earthport PLC, a London-based provider of cross-border payments for banks and businesses, for approximately $250 million in cash. The offer represents a 250% premium to Earthport’s six-month average share price ended Dec. 24 and has the endorsement of Earthport’s board of …
Read More »Thanksgiving Through Christmas Sales Increase 5.1% and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/26/18
Sales from Thanksgiving through Christmas on all forms of payment increased 5.1% compared to the same period last year to more than $850 billion, according to Mastercard Spending Pulse, which says this is the most robust growth seen in six years. Online sales gained 19.1%. Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp messaging platform …
Read More »COMMENTARY: For Merchants, Much Has Been Accomplished, Much Is Yet To Be Done
Merchants have come a long way since the inception of the Merchant Advisory Group, but far more needs to be done to restore some semblance of balance in payments. Upon reflection, it is remarkable that traditional merchants had no formal means to get together to discuss payments until the MAG …
Read More »Growth in Remote Card Payments Far Outpaces Point-of-Sale Payment Growth, the Fed Reports
E-commerce, online bill payments, and other forms of card-not-present payments continued their strong growth last year to capture a bigger share of total card payments, according to newly released Federal Reserve data. The number of what the Fed calls remote payments using general-purpose payment cards grew 22.8% in 2017 from …
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