While the opportunity to earn interchange on transactions made on its new Venmo debit card seemingly answers the oft-asked question of how PayPal Holdings Inc. plans to leverage its free peer-to-peer payment service, the full answer runs much deeper. Interchange is only one piece of the puzzle. A much larger …
Read More »Alipay Launches a Wallet-Based Cross-Border Money-Transfer Service Using Blockchain
Payments observers wondering when, and where, blockchain technology would take hold may want to pay close attention to cross-border remittances. Alipay Payment Services (HK) Ltd. said on Monday that it has launched a mobile-wallet based money-transfer service between Hong Kong and the Philippines using a blockchain backbone. The service, which …
Read More »A Consumer Survey Yields More Indications That Zelle Is Catching Up to Venmo
Zelle’s gestation as a favored person-to-person payments service may be nearing fulfillment. A new survey from LendEDU finds that, nine months after its June 2017 debut, more consumers had become aware of the bank-backed service. In 2017, only 6.1% had heard of Zelle. By the time of the survey, that …
Read More »Already Ahead of Venmo in Dollars, Zelle Is Poised to Jump Ahead in Users, a Forecaster Says
Now officially a year old, Zelle is steadily gaining momentum. San Francisco-based Bank of the West, the 29th largest bank in the country ranked by assets, announced Thursday it will join the bank-controlled person-to-person payment network, which already claims some of the biggest financial institutions in the country. Also this week, …
Read More »Overtaking Venmo and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/13/18
Investors jumped on shares of Netherlands-based payment processor Adyen Wednesday after the company priced its initial stock offering on the high end of its expected range at €240 ($282.48) per share. As of late morning Eastern time, the stock had more than doubled to €480.30 ($565.31) per share, prompting talk …
Read More »Generation Z Emerges With a New Way of Thinking About Payments
Generation Z is about to become a major force in financial services and payments, and that will change how payments providers market their services to them. That assertion, in the “Technologies Influencing Generation Z Payments Adoption” report released this week by Javelin Strategy & Research, is based, in part, on …
Read More »COMMENTARY: In the Eyes of the CFPB, We Are All Prepaid Now
A deep dive into the more than 2,000 pages of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s regulations covering the prepaid market shows that the CFPB is trying to extend uniform consumer protections to as many payment types as possible. That includes unauthorized or disputed transactions for all financial-access devices regardless of …
Read More »Wells Fargo’s Mobile App Moves Payments to Center Stage, Even Before the Log-in
Ever since banks, merchants, and tech companies first introduced mobile services, they’ve looked for ways to entice more usage by streamlining the way consumers interact with little screens. Now Wells Fargo & Co. has decided to put frequently used payments services on the home screen of its mobile app, before …
Read More »Syncapay’s Acquisition Ambition Begins With Disbursements
A new entry in the arena for payments-related acquisitions, Syncapay, is targeting specialists in disbursements and payouts. Plano, Texas-based Syncapay debuted last week with the intent to acquire payments companies that could benefit from shared services, while retaining the autonomy that differentiates them. “We are not looking at doing a …
Read More »Square Reports Advances With Larger Merchants And Double-Digit Growth in Key Metrics
Square Inc. reported a strong first quarter late Wednesday, but you wouldn’t know it on Wall Street, where its shares were trading down slightly Thursday morning at just over $47. It closed at $48.70 Wednesday. Despite double-digit increases year-over-year in gross payment volume and net and adjusted revenue, the San …
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