Real-time Payments

February, 2023

• 24 February

  Astra’s Instant Payment API Hits $100 Million in Annualized Payment Volume

  

  Astra Inc., a provider of bank-to-bank transfer technology for financial institutions, fintech startups, and enterprises, announced late Thursday that fintech developers have processed more than $100 million of annualized gross payment volume and 650,000 in real-time transfers through its Instant Payment solution since May. Instant Payment leverages Visa Direct as …
• 21 February

  As FedNow Prepares for Launch, Bankers’ Banks Enlist Help for Real-Time Payments

  

  With the launch of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow real-time payment service expected by mid-year, payments players are lining up clients to take advantage of the service. The latest is Pidgin Inc., a startup payments platform specializing in supporting financial institutions. The Atlanta-based company early Tuesday announced that Community Bankers’ Bank …
• 20 February

  Is FTX in the Rear-View Mirror? Bitcoin Rebounds Sharply As Headwinds Persist

  

  The leading digital currency Bitcoin hasn’t returned to the values it enjoyed early last year, but it appears to have rebounded from the beating it—and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole—took in the wake of the sudden collapse in November of the major trading platform FTX.com and the bankruptcy in …
• 17 February

  Zelle Sees Promising Growth in Small Business Payments As It Confronts Senators’ Scam Probe

  

  Early Warning Services LLC, operator of the Zelle peer-to-peer payments network, is celebrating a year just passed in which both dollar volume and transactions processed rose at double-digit rates. But the company also has its eye on promising markets like small businesses and on countering charges from U.S. Senators about …
• 16 February

  Zelle Posts Strong Increases in Volume And Financial Institution Membership

  

  Zelle, the peer-to-peer payment network operated by Early Warning Services LLC, reported Thursday that consumers and businesses sent 2.3 billion in payments totaling $629 billion through the network in 2022. On a year-over-year basis, transaction volumes through Zelle increased 26%, and total transaction value increased 28%. Small businesses continue to be …
• 15 February

  Paymentus Partners With Citizens to Provide Real-Time Bill Payments

  

  Citizens Financial Group is partnering with Paymentus Corp., a Charlotte, N.C., provider of bill-payment processing, to offer real-time electronic bill payment and money-transfer services for retail banking customers nationwide. Citizens will be rolling out Paymentus’s Bill Center and Loan Payments products. Bill Center provides users with a view of their bills …
• 15 February

  NRS Makes Canada Move And Other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/15/23

  

  National Retail Solutions, a point-of-sale platform provider, said it is expanding to Canada. Currently, select retailers in Toronto are deploying NRS terminals with plans to add more cities in coming months. Payments platform Nayax Ltd. said EV Meter, a technology firm working with Nayax on new electric-vehicle charging platforms, will support EV …
• 7 February

  Real-Time Payments Tee up in Separate Sionic And Oracle Offerings

  

  Real-time payments are getting more attention in financial services, and vendors are quickly enabling the faster-payment capability. Among the latest to do so is Sionic Corp., with its suite of services that includes its Verified Rapid Payments, and Oracle Corp., with a new set of cloud-based banking services. Atlanta-based Sionic …
• 6 February

  Blockchain on a Mobile App? AmazeWallet Says It’s Coming Soon

  

  A company called AmazeWallet over the weekend said it will soon launch a so-called super app that will let users run blockchain technology on a mobile phone. The app will run such functions as mining tokens, exchanging cryptocurrency, and sending encrypted messages, the London-based company noted. AmazeWallet said it has …
• 3 February

  Sightline Brands Its Proprietary Gaming Card With Visa

  

  With sports betting and casino gambling steadily gaining prominence as a payments market, payment processors are increasingly jumping on the opportunities the market presents. In the latest development, gaming-payments specialist Sightline Payments said it will offer its Play+ card, which has attracted 1.5 million users so far, as a Visa-branded …