Fintech

Alliance Data Systems, which has substantial exposure to the mall-based retail sector, sought Tuesday to assuage investors' fears about the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Former NetSpend CEO Dan Henry has been named as the CEO of Green Dot, the Pasadena, Calif.-based prepaid card issuer and banking company.

Margins will be squeezed after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates earlier this month to counteract the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

It's still unclear how the coronavirus pandemic will alter payment habits over time — will consumers avoid cash out of fear of germs, or will they favor it as the one payment option that nearly all merchants accept? An impending change in interchange rates may tip the scales in cash's favor.

Targeted marketing efforts must go beyond explaining the functionality and instead educate consumers about all benefits that contactless can offer. Responsible communication should prioritize those who are at the highest risk for infection, says The Futurist Group's Demitry Estrin.

Citi is beefing up leadership in its consumer card lending operations by recruiting Chase exec Pam Habner — credited with engineering the success of Chase’s Sapphire Reserve card — and former Citi exec Chris Fred, who will return after several months of working at Goldman Sachs on Apple Card products.

The coronavirus stimulus package has resurrected calls for the U.S. government to offer a central bank digital currency, public mobile wallets and postal banking—controversial ideas that are hard to pull off, but exist outside the U.S. and could dent interchange fees and private stablecoin projects like Facebook’s Libra.

Fluke Employees Federal Credit Union has agreed to become part of Sound Credit Union and the transaction should close later this year.

Congressional Democrats want forceful action to prevent damage to millions of Americans' credit scores during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the credit bureaus argue that the tools needed to protect consumers are already in place.

Congressional proposals could expand Federal Reserve liquidity support, delay a new credit loss accounting standard, provide certain accounts with unlimited deposit insurance and more to help businesses and consumers reeling from the coronavirus outbreak.