As they have for rival Visa Inc., transaction volumes are continuing to improve for Mastercard Inc. as world commerce stages its recovery from the impact of the pandemic. “The strong momentum we started the year with accelerated this quarter,” chief executive Michael Miebach said Thursday morning during a session with …
Read More »PayPal’s CEO Promises an ‘Aggressive’ Play for Merchant Business in the Wake of New Pricing
PayPal’s boss made a declaration Wednesday afternoon that may have been as much a warning to incumbent merchant acquirers as it was a promise to storefront merchants. Referring to PayPal’s new transaction pricing schedule, expected to go into effect Aug. 2, chief executive Dan Schulman made it clear PayPal will …
Read More »Eye on Acquiring: Shift4 Adds the United Center, And OLB Dives Deeper Into CBD
Shift4 Payments Inc. continued its expansion into sports and entertainment venues Tuesday, announcing that it will provide payment processing for Chicago’s United Center, home to the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. The payments offering relies on Shift4’s VenueNext technology. Shift4 said …
Read More »Consumer Adoption of Contactless Payments Continues to Surge, Says Latest CardFlight Report
Nearly 18 months into the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer usage of contactless payments continues to grow, according to the most recent CardFlight Small Business Report. During the week ending July 18, contactless transactions increased 597.7% from the March 2020 baseline period. Contactless usage has been steadily increasing on a weekly basis …
Read More »Australia Peeks Into Apple Pay and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 726/21
An Australian Parliament committee held a hearing investigating Apple Inc.’s policies regarding access to the secure element for payment services on its smart phones, according to a ZDNet.com report. Apple argued its hardware-based interface is more secure than a software-focused one. Google, which uses host card emulation software for Google Pay, said …
Read More »Paystand Secures $50 Million in Funding and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/23/21
Blockchain-based business-to-business payments network Paystand Inc. announced a $50-million Series C funding round led by NewView Capital.Payments provider Paystone Inc. received a $30-million investment from Credit Mutuel Equity. Paystone said it will use the funds to fuel growth.ForumPay, whose technology converts cryptocurrency spent by consumers into fiat currency for processing, said it will work with …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Could PayPal’s Latest Fee Boost Make It the Merchant Lobby’s Next Target?
The yin and yang of political, and ferociously commercial, PayPal was vividly on display with its announcement last month of a massive price hike. The e-commerce phenom attaches itself to an array of woke causes but remains a wonderfully hard-nosed commercial enterprise, keen to be fully compensated for the enormous value …
Read More »Most Consumers Want To Decrease Credit Card Use As BNPL And Debit Gain Favor, a Survey Finds
A majority of U.S. consumers in all age groups—76%—would like to decrease their use of credit cards as they seek to avoid debt, are wary of their ability to pay off their balances each month, and have concerns about making the minimum payments, according to a survey from GoCardless Ltd., …
Read More »Mastercard Outlines a Pilot for Direct Acceptance of Cryptocurrency Via Stablecoins
Card-based cryptocurrency transactions at the point of sale require conversion of the crypto assets to fiat currency for acceptance by the card networks. Now, the two top card networks are starting to change that. Mastercard Inc. early Tuesday said it will work with a pair of issuing banks and several …
Read More »Slide Mobile Adds In-App Shopping for Online Purchases
Responding to consumer demand for an easier way to shop and earn rewards online, Raise Marketplace LLC announced Thursday the launch of an in-app shopping feature for its Slide mobile app. Consumers can now connect directly through the Slide app to the company’s more than 200 merchant partners to shop, …
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