News

February, 2018

• 5 February

  PayPal Takes a Beating As the Spotlight Shifts to eBay’s Payments Plans With Adyen

  

  When news broke last week that eBay Inc. will begin moving away from its tight embrace of PayPal Holdings Inc. for payment processing, investors immediately punished PayPal’s stock, interpreting the move as a big blow to the company’s business. But the frenzy of PayPal shorting may have overlooked one thing: …
• 5 February

  Accel’s Signature-Debit Service Counts Walmart as a Customer

  

  The electronic funds transfer networks continue to diversify their services as competition for merchant and issuer business in debit payments intensifies. The latest example comes from processor Fiserv Inc.’s Accel network, which says Walmart Inc. is using its service for signature-based debit card transactions. Walmart typically prompts customers paying with …
• 5 February

  Sterling Makes POS Software Integration and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/5/18

  

  Consumers may be ready to pull back from using credit cards if a survey from Auriemma Consulting Group is correct. Only 14% plan to increase their borrowing on credit cards in 2018, compared with 28% who said so in 2017. “Increased spending around the holiday season is normally predictive of greater …
• 2 February

  Two Sides of the Same Coin? Surcharging And Cash Discounts Puzzle Some in Acquiring

  Curiosity, and a bit of confusion, about what constitutes credit card surcharging and cash-discount programs surfaced this week at the Northeast Acquirers Association annual conference in Uncasville, Conn. During a panel discussion about the benefits and challenges of credit card surcharging and cash-discount programs for merchants, participants explained how their …
• 2 February

  Visa Makes Super Bowl POS Upgrades and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/2/18

  

  In advance of the Super Bowl on Sunday in Minneapolis, Visa Inc. said it has installed 700 upgraded point-of-sale terminals at U.S. Bank Stadium and additional POS devices at certain merchant locations in the city. The new devices are capable of handling contactless EMV transactions. An estimated 1 million people …
• 1 February

  With Uncle Sam’s Tax Cut in Place, Visa Expects a $1 Billion Windfall

  

  North America’s largest payments company on Thursday said it expects to receive a $1 billion bonus from the federal tax-reform bill passed into law in December. In contrast with its rival Mastercard Inc., which reported earlier in the day it recorded an $873 million charge in the fourth quarter related …
• 1 February

  Regulatory Efforts May Be Quiet at the Federal Level, But Not So In States And the Courts

  

  Federal regulatory initiatives targeting the payments industry may have abated, but a variety of others at the state level and in the court system could require reactions from payments providers. That’s the word from Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs, who spoke Wednesday at the annual Northeast Acquirers …
• 1 February

  Mastercard Takes $873 Million One-Time Tax Hit; Lands Cabela’s Cobranded Card

  

  Mastercard Inc. took an $873 million, one-time charge in 2017’s fourth quarter related to the new federal tax law, and the company reported Thursday that the cobranded Cabela’s Visa card will switch to the Mastercard brand. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that President Donald Trump signed into law in …
• 1 February

  Square Expands Bitcoin Service and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2-1-18

  

  PayPal Holdings Inc.’s stock was trading down about 7.5% as of mid-morning Thursday, hours after an announcement from eBay Inc. that the big marketplace will shift transaction processing from long-time provider PayPal to Netherlands-based processor Adyen. EBay’s business accounts for about 13% of PayPal’s volume, a share PayPal said Thursday …

January, 2018

• 31 January

  For PayPal, a New Deal Extends Its Link to eBay Even As It Seeks Out Other Marketplaces

  

  PayPal Holdings Inc. on Wednesday said it has reached an agreement with its former owner, eBay Inc., that calls for PayPal to act as a checkout method on eBay for three years beyond the end of the five-year pact that separated eBay and PayPal in 2015. In that three-year period, …