Citing the heavier regulatory burden borne by conventional banks, the Independent Community Bankers of America trade group on Tuesday asked the Federal Deposit Insurance Cop. to deny merchant processor Square Inc.’s insurance application. San Francisco-based Square last month announced it would apply for an industrial bank charter from the state …
Read More »Smart Checkout Is Advancing, But Getting Rid of the Checkout Will Take a While
Ever since ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft came along, processors and merchants have been captivated by the idea of running transactions entirely in the background, without any checkout. That concept will emerge over time, but in different forms and not necessarily with checkout-less experiences, according to research released Tuesday. …
Read More »Tech Buzzwords Don’t Cut It as Skeptical Investors Assess Payment Startups
Moderating a panel of three investment executives who put money into startup payments firms and other financial-technology companies, Frank Young, senior vice president of innovation at merchant processor Global Payments Inc., noticed well into the Strategic Leadership Forum session Thursday that no one had mentioned artificial intelligence, machine learning, the …
Read More »How Online Payments Will Change, or Won’t Change, Upon Amazon’s Patent Expiration
Patents usually get the most attention when a person or company files for one, but the one held by Amazon.com Inc. for single-click buying that is set to expire Tuesday is generating plenty of buzz about how much, if at all, e-commerce will change when it’s gone. Granted by the …
Read More »Google Aims To Leverage Its Millions of Credit Card Credentials for Mobile Commerce
Google plans soon to give merchants access to the vast trove of credit card credentials it has in its databases to speed customer checkout for mobile and online payments. The search-engine giant, however, is not putting itself in competition with payment card networks, a Google executive said this week. The …
Read More »Seventy Percent of Millennials Have Made an In-App Purchase in the Past Year, Study Finds
Young adults are famous for their enthusiasm for new technologies, and that perception appears to be confirmed by a new study that compared adoption of in-app payments by various age groups. The recently released “2017 U.S. Mobile App Report” from Internet metrics firm comScore Inc. found that 23% of adult …
Read More »New Data Helps ISOs Court SMB E-Commerce Merchants in the Top U.S. Cities
Acquirers wanting to tap into the ever-growing number of e-commerce merchants, especially small businesses, might do well to target a handful of U.S. cities with large bases of retail entrepreneurs. E-commerce platform provider Volusion released this week a list of the top 10 cities based on volume of merchants and …
Read More »Vantiv To Take Worldpay’s Name In a Merger That Will Create a Global Acquiring Powerhouse
After two delays, processor Vantiv Inc. and London-based merchant acquirer Worldpay Group plc finally announced a formal deal Wednesday that has Vantiv acquiring Worldpay in a deal that creates a global processing powerhouse. The cash and stock deal values Worldpay at $12 billion, a 34% premium to Worldpay’s six-month volume-weighted …
Read More »After CardFree’s Suit Against LevelUp, the Mobile Specialists Trade Salvos in Court Filings
Litigation between CardFree Inc. and Scvngr Inc., better known as LevelUp, has taken a nasty turn in recent weeks, with LevelUp accusing CardFree of high-pressure tactics outside the courtroom and CardFree charging LevelUp with more instances of fraudulent access to its mobile order-ahead-and-pay system. In its June 21 answer to …
Read More »Eye on Visa: A Klarna Stake, And Checkout for Payscout’s VR Commerce App
Visa Inc. is investing in Klarna, a Sweden-based payment processor that offers retail credit options for merchants, the card brand announced Tuesday. The intent, Visa says, is to develop a “future strategic partnership,” which appears to focus on Europe, though Klarna also operates in North America. Visa says the deal …
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