Mastercard

Though many merchants remain wary of alienating their customers with fees, others now see an opportunity to recoup the growing costs associated with accepting plastic.

2019 kicked off with a series of large, multibillion-dollar acquisitions that promised to forever change the landscape of the payments industry. And while those big deals were clustered at the start of the year, many other pivotal deals took place over the course of the year.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Mastercard are targeting value-added merchant services with a £60 million investment in London-based Pollinate Networks.

The U.S. District Court in New York has issued final approval of an estimated $6.2 billion settlement in the merchants' class-action lawsuit over swipe fees, a 15-year-long case against Visa and Mastercard. But the struggle between merchants and the card brands doesn't end here.

Mastercard is working to build its risk-monitoring arsenal by buying RiskRecon, which offers tools measuring threats introduced by third parties, including vendors.

The bank is working with a Swedish fintech to offer a tool that lets account holders track how their spending choices might be contributing to climate change. The tool may never be a big moneymaker, but it could help the San Francisco bank attract customers and recruit employees.

Payrailz, a payments startup launched that leverages AI to streamline bill payments and money transfers, will integrate its platform with Mastercard Bill Pay Exchange to explore ways to enhance the consumer bill payment experience.

BMO Harris Bank in Chicago recently became the first financial institution to offer a Mastercard that allows transgender and nonbinary people to use their preferred names. Members of that community often experience disproportionate financial hardship, in part because of employment discrimination.

Mastercard is adding customized communications technology from R.R. Donnelly & Sons to power an instant bill payment tool it’s been piloting since last year.

Wirecard will begin giving German users of its boon Planet digital account 0.75% interest on funds held in the prepaid card account beginning next year.