News

October, 2023

• 30 October

  Virgin Atlantic Taps Elavon And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/30/23

  

  Payments processor Elavon announced its global acquiring multi-currency conversion services will support transactions for the airline Virgin Atlantic. Elavon, a unit of U.S. Bancorp, says it serves more than 100 airlines among its client base. Canadian banking giant BMO said it will begin offering Visa Inc.’s Installments payments service next year. Visa launched Installments …
• 27 October

  Lyric.ai Teams Up With Codoxo to Boost Payment Accuracy Via AI for Health Plan Payers

  

  Lyric.ai, a provider of artificial intelligence-based payment accuracy solutions for healthcare payers, has partnered with Codoxo, an AI-based cost-containment platform provider, to improve payment accuracy processes for health-plan payers. Lyric will offer Codoxo’s ClaimPilot, Audit Scope, Payment Scope, Provider Scope, and Fraud Scope applications to its customers via LyricIQ, its …
• 27 October

  Worldline is Partly to Blame for Its Stock’s Sudden Collapse

  

  Like a thunderclap, on Oct. 25 the stock price of continental Europe’s biggest payment processor, Worldline, plummeted 59%. It’s down a whopping 88% from its high in April 2021. Macroeconomic conditions are to blame, but so are Worldline-specific factors. The reign of easy money is over. Easy money inflates valuations. …
• 27 October

  European Processors Take Stock Hit And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/27/23

  

  European transaction processors are getting hammered by slowing economies and increased regulatory scrutiny. Shares in the big French processor Worldline slid 59% on Wednesday, followed by a feeble recovery Thursday. AppTech Payments Corp. announced it has closed on its acquisition of Alliance Partners LLC. The deal brings to AppTech FinZeo, Alliance’s money-movement software …
• 26 October

  The CFPB Reports on Rising Credit Card Late Fees And Rates—And Vows To Lower Them

  

  Last year, credit card issuers charged consumers more than $105 billion in interest and more than $25 billion in fees, $14.5 billion of which came from late fees, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s biennial credit card market report. Credit card holders paid about 20% of their average balance …
• 26 October

  The Fed’s Debit Card Interchange Proposal Isn’t Pleasing Merchants Or Issuers

  

  The Federal Reserve Board’s proposal Wednesday to make a 31% reduction in the main component of its debit card interchange ceiling for large issuers touches on a longstanding sore point among merchants and has already sparked a spirited debate in the payments industry. Merchant groups, long riled by debit card …
• 26 October

  Mastercard Revenue up 12% And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/26/23

  

  Mastercard Inc. posted strong third-quarter results of $6.5 billion in revenue, up 12% from $5.8 billion in the 2022 third quarter. The card giant’s net income of $3.2 billion increased 28% from $2.5 billion in the year-ago quarter. Mastercard cited cross-border payment volume growth of 21% in the quarter as one …
• 25 October

  Don’t Expect a ‘Here Lies Interchange’ Epitaph Any Time Soon

  

  With potential regulation of credit card interchange looming and with the unwavering demand from merchants for lower card-acceptance costs, the possibility that interchange as it’s known today may dramatically change can’t be entirely dismissed—but don’t count on its demise. That was the conclusion at the Money 20/20 trade show this …
• 24 October

  Visa’s CEO Downplays Potential Impact From a Fed Meeting on Debit Interchange

  

  The Federal Reserve Board is set to revisit its longstanding limit on debit card interchange on Wednesday, and most observers expect the Fed to lower it. But ask Visa Inc. about the matter—as analysts did Tuesday afternoon during the network’s September-quarter earnings call—and its top executives outwardly at least profess …
• 24 October

  Bitpay’s Crypto Move And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/25/23

  

  Bitpay, a provider of cryptocurrency-based payments services, said it is working with crypto-technology provider Banxa to enlarge access to payments using digital currency. Shield Compliance, a compliance provider for cannabis banking, issued an open letter to American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa calling on the networks to permit financial institutions …