News

January, 2022

• 18 January

  Amazon’s Acceptance Ban Got Visa’s Attention in the U.K. Now What Will Negotiations Likely Yield?

  

  Amazon.com Inc.’s decision to pull back from its threat to stop accepting Visa cards issued in the United Kingdom may have evoked a sigh of relief among some consumers, not to mention at Visa itself, but it also could betoken some complex dynamics behind the decision-making at both corporate giants. …
• 18 January

  Mastercard OKs Coinbase NFT Marketplace Use and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/18/22

  

  Mastercard Inc. said it is enabling Mastercard-branded cards to be used for purchases on Coinbase’s upcoming NFT marketplace. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital goods.Accounting-automation company Bookkeep announced integrations with Stripe, Sage Intacct, and NetSuite. The company, which serves more than 600 retailers and restaurants, also offers links to Shopify, Square, Amazon, and …
• 17 January

  Stripe Partners With Ford To Help the Automaker Retool E-commerce

  

  Stripe Inc. announced Monday a five-year deal with Ford Credit, Ford Motor Company’s financial-services arm, to develop new e-commerce applications for Ford customers and dealers in North America and Europe. The agreement also includes processing payments for the automaker’s dealer network and providing Ford dealers with an improved payment-acceptance platform.  …
• 17 January

  Trends Like Open Banking And BNPL Will Sustain E-Commerce’s Hot Streak, a Report Says

  

  Open banking, single-click checkout wallets, and the hot buy now, pay later trend will all help drive e-commerce volume worldwide in the coming five years, predicts Juniper Research in a report released Monday. This momentum is likely to push online sales long after the short-term impetus from the pandemic subsides, …
• 17 January

  UST Debuts Touchless Checkout Platform and other Digital Transactions New briefs from 1/17/22

  

  Software firm UST said it has worked with Kiosk Information Systems to introduce a touchless checkout platform that offers both voice and gesture-based interaction as well as a variety of payment flows, including QR codes, app wallets, contactless cards, and cash.Point-of-sale terminal maker Ingenico, a unit of Worldline, launched its Self-Modular POS, a …
• 14 January

  Nacha Brings Verification of Payment-Related Data to Its Phixius Network

  As part of its effort to help users of its Phixius payment-data network mitigate fraud and enhance payment-routing certainty, Nacha announced Thursday the network will enable originators, fintechs, and financial institutions that originate and receive electronic payments to verify payment-related information, such as account ownership, account numbers, and routing information. …
• 14 January

  Venmo Adds a Gift-Wrap Feature for Users Sending Money on Special Occasions

  

  Peer-to-peer money transfers have become a hyper-competitive market, driving even the best-known providers to seek out an edge. One such idea is to introduce a feature that lets senders add virtual gift-wrapping to payments they’re sending for special occasions, and on Thursday Venmo started rolling out just such a feature. …
• 14 January

  Payroc Acquires East Commerce Solutions and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/14/22

  

  Payroc WorldAccess LLC said it acquired East Commerce Solutions, a merchant service provider, which has more than $2 billion in annual processing volume. Terms were not disclosed.NCR Corp. said it has closed on its acquisition of LibertyX, a provider of software for cryptocurrency transactions at ATMs and on various payment-acceptance devices. LibertyX …
• 13 January

  Eye on the POS: Texas Roadhouse Selects Sparkfly for Offers; Merrco’s POS System Marks U.S. Entry

  

  Diners visiting Texas Roadhouse restaurants will soon be able to tap on digital offers in the Texas Roadhouse app thanks to a newly announced deal with Sparkfly, a retail services provider. In related point-of-sale news, Merrco Payments Inc. launched its expanded PayHQ service in the United States. Merrco specializes in …
• 13 January

  CBDCs Inch Closer to Wider Acceptance as the Global Card Networks Build Alliances

  

  It was probably only a matter of time before the two global card networks, which have already made overtures to blockchain technology, began venturing into support for central bank digital currencies. News of the latest development emerged very early Thursday with an announcement from Visa Inc. and blockchain software developer …