Issuing/Originating

With much of the world locked down in combatting the novel coronavirus pandemic, a financial trade group in the United Kingdom said Tuesday the country would increase the spending limit on contactless transactions by 50% effective April 1. The move will allow consumers to pay without touching a keypad or …

PayPal Holdings Inc. and Square Inc. are moving to increase hiring as consumers reportedly shift to mobile payments as a result of calls for social distancing.Arguing that “the [coronavirus] pandemic will pass, but the economic impact will last,” a collation of payroll processors and trade associations issued an open letter to President Donald …

Faster payments got a boost Friday as Nacha, the governing body for the nation’s automated clearing house network, raised the limit on same-day payments from $25,000 to $100,000. The move follows a similar action earlier this year by The Clearing House Payments Co. for real-time transactions and is expected to …

The federal government and the state of Utah this week cleared the way for a controversial industrial loan corporation to be set up by Square Inc. that could help the payments company cement ties with its merchant base. But the approvals also drew fierce opposition from banking groups concerned about …

Electronic Payments Inc. said it will temporarily suspend the monthly support fees for its TableTurn and Exatouch Point of Sale products for three months.JPMorgan Chase & Co. is temporarily closing 1,000 of its bank branches, or 20% of its network, because of Covid-19, according to press reports. The remaining open branches will …

With the nation hunkering down to slow the spread of Covid-19, American Express Co. said Tuesday it expects its first-quarter revenues, adjusted for currency fluctuations, to grow only 2% to 4% year-over-year. In contrast, AmEx’s revenues net of interest expense rose 7% to $10.4 billion in 2019’s first quarter. In …

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 …

Airport restaurant and retail operator OTG Experience LLC says it will be one of the first retailers to use Amazon.com Inc.’s “Just Walk Out” cashierless technology, the system that powers Amazon’s Amazon Go stores, when it opens a CIBO Express Gourmet Market next week in Terminal C of Newark Liberty International Airport.A technology …

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 …

The Western Union Co. launched WU Incoming Payments for Legal, a service aimed at allowing U.S. law firms to accept foreign payments without bank-processing fees.Payments provider Usio Inc. said InsureSmith, which provides insurance brokerage software products, integrated Usio’s PayFac-in-a-Box service to enable users to pay premiums directly through the InsureSmith platform.E-commerce services provider Signifyd announced …