Issuing/Originating

Mastercard Inc. reported $6.3 billion in first-quarter revenue, a 10.5% increase from $5.7 billion in the 2023 first quarter. It posted a quarterly net income of $3 billion, up 25% from $2.4 billion a year prior. Executives noted strong consumer spending, cross-border payments volume growth, and new deals across its regions …

Capital One Corp.’s chief executive late Thursday struck back against concerns that the banking giant’s proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services will dampen competition in banking and payments. “The facts will show there are no barriers to entry in the credit card business,” declared Richard Fairbank as he fielded questions …

Buy now, pay later provider Splitit Payments Ltd. has launched an installment-payment option for financial institutions that consumers can access at the point-of-sale. Financial institutions can offer the option by connecting directly to Splitit’s merchant networks, through a direct link or through a card network. The payment option, called FI-PayLater, …

Quickcharge, a division of Transact Campus Inc., completed an integration of Amazon.com Inc.’s Just Walk Technology at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa that enables employees to use their badges to pay for food and beverages. Payments processor Elavon said it is expanding a partnership in Europe with commerce-technology platform FreedomPay to include …

Block Inc.’s Square point-of-sale unit announced offline-payments capability is now available on all Square devices in all geographies around the world. The move covers Square Stand and Square Reader for contactless and chip, in addition to Square Register and Square Terminal. Square Reader for magstripe, the original Square device, has been covered …

Open banking, the ability for third-party developers to access financial data in traditional banking systems, as defined by Stripe Inc., may provide one component for a new payment type, at least one that has limited use today. Pay by bank, a payment method that enables an online payment without the …

(Editor’s note: This is Part II of a two-part article. Part I appeared Thursday.) Interchange fees paid by merchants are the credit card industry’s second-largest revenue source. For debit cards and neobanks, these fees are a primary revenue source. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act imposed price controls on debit interchange fees …

American Express Co. reported first-quarter 2024 revenue of $15.8 billion, up 11% from the same period last year, and billed business of $367 billion, up 6%. Net income grew 34% to $2.44 billion. Affinipay, a payments platform specializing in the legal and accounting professions, said it has expanded its LawPay and …

Executives at Discover Financial Services Inc. early Thursday cut short their first-quarter 2024 earnings call, saying in advance they would not take questions after the presentation. Instead, equity analysts listening to the presentation were told to direct questions to Discover’s investor-relations team. On the call, executives duly reported a significant …

The Cato Institute’s Nicholas Anthony warned recently that the Biden Administration is waging “a war on (payments-industry) prices.” The payments industry provides services funded by a range of fees paid by consumers and businesses. Demagogic regulators and politicians pillory industry fees as exploitative, as “junk fees,” and “a tax.” These …