Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Discover Financial Services on Wednesday became the first major payment network operator to report its second-quarter performance, and things weren’t pretty on the credit card side in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Volumes on Discover’s Pulse debit network, however, rose by double digits. Taking the biggest hit was the …
July, 2020
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22 July
Don’t Look for Any Near-Term Relief When It Comes to Fraud Losses, LexisNexis Risk Solutions Says
While merchants, banks, and payments providers may be tempted to blame sharply rising fraud rates on the pandemic, fraud losses were rising before Covid-19 set in and will continue to rise for as far as the eye can see, according to experts behind a major fraud report released this week. …
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22 July
Shopify Pairs Up With Affirm To Offer an Installment-Payment Option for Small Businesses
The installment-payment movement has gained the big e-commerce services provider Shopify Inc. as a convert with Wednesday’s announcement that Shopify will offer a credit option to its U.S. customers through Affirm Inc. San Francisco-based Affirm, an online credit-services provider, said approved Shop Pay customers at checkout will be able to …
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22 July
Small Businesses Continue to Rebound and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/22/20
Sales at small businesses included in the CardFlight Small Business Impact Report for July 22 experienced a 2.6% increase in sales week-over-week and are 25% above the baseline week of March 2-8. Food and drink sales were up 4.5% for the week and retail sales increased 4% week-over-week.Wells Fargo & Co. launched My …
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21 July
Synchrony’s Retailers Suffer a Blow to Purchase Volume
The hits merchants are taking from the Covid-19 pandemic were apparent in the second-quarter financial results the big retail and cobranded card issuer Synchrony Financial reported Tuesday, results which include a 19% year-over-year drop in purchase volume. Stamford, Conn.-based Synchrony posted purchase volume of $31.2 billion versus $38.3 billion in …
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21 July
Eye on POS Systems: Revel Lands Moe’s Southwest Grill And a Grocer Begins NCR Emerald Installs
Cloud-based point-of-sale systems continue to gain share among merchants. In the latest news, Revel Systems said Moe’s Southwest Grill will install its cloud-based point-of-sale system in its more than 700 restaurants, and NCR Corp. said the Bashas Family of Stores grocery chain is rolling out NCR Emerald at all of …
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21 July
Starbucks Expands Reward-Eligible Payment Methods and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/21/20
Coffee king Starbucks Corp. announced new options beginning this fall for earning loyalty points, or stars, in the Starbucks Rewards program without paying with a registered Starbucks physical card or card loaded into the Starbucks mobile app. The options to be available at company-owned stores in the United States and Canada will …
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20 July
Its PayPal Deal Having Expired, eBay Acts on Its Global Ambitions for Managed Payments
Free of the restraints of a legal agreement with PayPal Holdings Inc., eBay Inc. said early Monday it will now start on a global expansion of its 2-year-old managed-payments program. The program has already delivered $4.7 billion in total payment volume in the United States and Germany, the company said, …
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20 July
The Card Networks and Open Banking; Crypto Platform Joins Mastercard Network and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 7/20/20
Cryptocurrency platform Wirex has become the first such entity to obtain a principal membership in the Mastercard network. The move comes as Mastercard Inc. announced an expansion of its cryptocurrency program, which aims to make it easier for crypto card companies to market their products. Wirex also announced recently it has hired long-time …
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20 July
COMMENTARY: How Their Open-Banking Buys Could Propel Mastercard And Visa
The global retail-payment networks Mastercard and Visa are on a tear, acquiring and investing in adjacent payment-opportunity space in networks that can leverage and reinforce their existing franchises. Their traditional payment schemes are dominant worldwide and near indestructible. While for the foreseeable future they could grow on autopilot, to their …