Issuing/Originating

Wells Fargo Co. said overall levels of optimism among small businesses remain at just more than half where they were late last year, even though its Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index rose 12 points for the second straight quarter in the latest period.As local governments imposed measures to control fresh outbreaks …

Overall U.S. credit card use dipped 2% for the week ending Nov. 29 compared with the week ending Dec. 1, 2019, according to the Tracking Transaction Trends report from PSCU, a credit union service organization. Meanwhile, debit card use increased 4.9% for the same period. Regionally, the largest credit card drop was …

It’s a hot time for buy now, pay later companies, especially when buyers come around. Affirm Inc. is buying Canadian rival PayBright Inc. and Alliance Data Systems Corp. completed its acquisition of Bread, the brand ran by Lon Operations LLC. Buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Inc. said it will acquire …

The Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. said it is seeking participants for a newly-formed a study group on faster and real-time payments. The ASC X9 develops national and international standards for the financial-services industry.Payments-technology provider Payfacto Payments Inc. has partnered with Community Federal Savings Bank to launch a merchant-acquiring unit for the U.S. market …

Sysnet Global Solutions said it acquired the Managed Complication Solutions division of ControlScan Inc. With the acquisition, Sysnet said almost 4 million small and mid-size businesses and payment processing companies use its services. Terms were not disclosed.Fido Merchant Services, a United Kingdom-based payment gateway and merchant services provider, is embarking on …

The Libra Association, the organization behind the Libra cryptocurrency project, said it is renaming itself Diem, Latin for “day.” Acknowledging pressure from governments and regulators worldwide, the association this spring changed course on several key strategies, setting out new plans for single-currency stablecoins and a stronger compliance regime.Commerce platform Shopify Inc. said its merchants had …

Commerce platform Shopify Inc. reported $2.4 billion in global Black Friday sales, a 75% increase from 2019. Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving. Mobile sales accounted for 68% of U.S. transactions and desktop, 32%. Top U.S. cities were New York, Los Angeles, and Vernon, Calif. The average ticket of $93.80 was …

Unlike Visa and Mastercard, Plaid is not just another credit and debit card company largely beholden to the big banks. It uses modern technology, in a sector that has been slow to adopt it, to create a new payments paradigm. It likely has no plans to issue cards or use …

Finally! No doubt, merchants throughout the country are applauding the Justice Department’s suit against Visa to stop its planned acquisition of Plaid, a potential competitor. For far too long, we’ve witnessed the growth of Visa’s dominance of the debit card business, which has come at a huge cost to America’s …

Payment Alliance International Inc. said its fleet of more than 95,000 ATMs will redeem Bitcoin for cash under an agreement with B4U Financial LLC, whose BitLoad4U technology will manage authorization, clearing, and settlement and allow redemption from any cryptocurrency mobile wallet.A Bitcoin variant called Bitcoin Latinum announced a pre-sale launch with availability on exchanges in …