Mastercard

A staged implementation rolling up national systems offers EPI its best prospects. Still, it’s a long shot, says Intrepid Ventures’ Eric Grover.

At a time when many have shifted to digital payments to weather the coronavirus pandemic, the four main U.S. credit card brands are aggressively expanding their own take on digital commerce.

More than a dozen large European banks plan to launch a payment system that would rival U.S. payment companies and technology firms, an idea that hasn’t worked in the past but may have a better chance given the current global health, economic and political crises.

Thanks to their close relationship with the card networks, banks stand to benefit most from deals like Mastercard’s agreement to buy Finicity and Visa’s pending purchase of Plaid. The prospects for fintechs and consumers are dicier.

Mastercard Inc. vowed to improve the diversity of its leadership ranks, saying it plans to increase the number of Black leaders at the vice president level and above by 50% by 2025.

Mastercard has agreed to acquire Finicity for a reported price of $825 million, a move the card brand says will strengthen its open banking platform and expand financial services through more real-time access to data.

Splitit has boosted its merchant access in the crowded install payment market through a series of deals with large payment companies, the latest being a five-year agreement with Mastercard.

Merchants prevailed in a long-running legal battle with Visa and Mastercard in the U.K. over whether interchange fees the payment card networks charged for years in Britain were anticompetitive, which could increase scrutiny on U.S. card interchange rates.

Digital technology and the coronavirus recovery will dramatically alter payments in the year ahead, but the scale and benefits of networks will survive, Eric Grover of Intrepid Ventures contends.

Payments processors are keeping a portion of payments as a reserve against potential disputes between cardholders and merchants. Small-business owners say the practice is eating into their profits.

About 78% of Mastercard’s European transactions are now contactless, and the company expects the shift in payment choice will be permanent.

Mastercard and Judopay have teamed up to enable mobile payments through The Pharmacy Centre.

In line with the other major card brands, Mastercard is extending its EMV liability shift at gas pumps to April 2021. It is also launching a data-driven fraud protection tool for fuel merchants who have not completed their upgrade to chip-card EMV pumps.

Mastercard Inc. is starting to see signs of improvement in U.S. consumer spending as cities and states ease restrictions on social distancing.

Mastercard is adding to its global network of innovation labs by partnering with Enel X, a mobility and smart-city startup, to open a center in the Israeli fintech hub of Be'er Sheva.

In the works for months, Mastercard Track Business Payment Service rolls out Tuesday with the goal of improving efficiency around corporate buyer and supplier payments at a time when these processes are uniquely constrained by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mastercard has promoted divisional president Mark Barnett as its new European president to succeed Javier Perez, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Fears of catching coronavirus during the payment process has given a sharp boost in usage and awareness of contactless payments since the pandemic began, according to a new survey from Mastercard.

Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga says he is certain that science, medicine and innovation will lead the world out of the coronavirus pandemic, but there is little indication of when that will happen.

Digital business payments are taking off during the coronavirus crisis, sending accounts payable automation firm AvidXchange to the fundraising well for the second time in 2020.