Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
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 …
July, 2021
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26 July
How the Pandemic Has Forced Changes in the Way Acquirers Approach—And Sell to—Merchants
Ever since the Covid pandemic set in more than a year ago, the payments industry has been abuzz with talk about its various impacts on merchant acceptance. What hasn’t received as much attention is how the pandemic has affected merchant acquiring. It turns out processors and independent sales organizations have …
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26 July
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 …
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23 July
Consumer Spending Helps Put AmEx Within a Whisker of Pre-Pandemic Times
American Express Co. posted second-quarter numbers Friday indicating the card giant is very nearly back to its pre-pandemic performance and reflecting a steady recovery from the travel restrictions that hampered the company for most of 2020. Driving the improved results was steady improvement in the company’s vital travel-and-entertainment business and …
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23 July
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 …
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23 July
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 …
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22 July
Visa Agrees to Lay out Nearly $1 Billion to Acquire Britain’s Cross-Border Specialist Currencycloud
Visa Inc. has been concentrating on building out its “network-of-networks” strategy for some time, and it’s latest move in that project came early Thursday with the news that it has agreed to acquire Currency Cloud Ltd., a London-based developer of application programming interfaces that can simplify cross-border payments. The deal values …
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22 July
COMMENTARY: It’s Time for Peer-to-Peer Payment Apps And Digital Cash Services to Address Fraud
Since PayPal’s launch more than 20 years ago, the peer-to-peer and digital-cash service industry has seen exponential growth, and with it, exponential amounts of fraud. An estimated 70% of Americans use peer-to-peer and digital-cash services, and many turned to these products during the pandemic. However, in just the first four …
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22 July
Discover’s Payment Volume Increased 22% and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/22/21
Discover Financial Services reports its payment services volume of $78.4 billion for the second quarter of 2021 increased 22% from $64.5 billion in the same period a year ago. Its Pulse network dollar volume of $62.9 billion increased 18% from $52.9 billion year-over-year. Discover card sale volume of $45.6 billion increased …
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21 July
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., …