Merchant

With consumers and merchants alike sharing the need to be paid faster, the case for adopting real-time payments globally has quickly advanced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One thing that many parents are finding unusual this year is the amount of money being spent on school supplies during the coronavirus crisis — it’s actually going up.

The Minneapolis company’s partnership with the Black Business Investment Fund and other community development financial institutions is an example of how banks can fulfill multimillion-dollar pledges aimed at closing the racial wealth gap.

If the mega payments deals of 2019 left the acquiring landscape somewhat scorched, the COVID-19 pandemic planted new seeds to allow ISOs to grow by quickly converting merchants to electronic payments.

Afterpay has entered into an agreement with NBQ Corporate SLU to acquire Pagantis SAU and PMT Technology SLU for €50 million (about $59 million) to expand into France, Italy and Spain — a direct challenge to Klarna, one of the dominant European buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers.

Checkout-free retail is still not ready to move out of tiny spaces, though Amazon’s trying to accelerate progress through a trio of initiatives that have come to light over the past few weeks.

The company will offer retail installment loans up to $40,000 through a partnership with Mastercard's Vyze unit.

Advocates of allowing merchants to add a surcharge to defray the cost of credit card interchange have had to overcome network bureaucracy, state laws and even ingrained habits among the merchants themselves.

Brisbane, Australia-based EML has partnered with the New Zealand buy now, pay later fintech Laybuy to leverage digital cards for in-store and online retail purchases.

Part of the coronavirus’s economic story is the sudden boom in installment payment services — a sure sign of consumers and merchants wanting a haven from revolving debt. But the rush to simpler credit is also a reflection of how the crisis has changed the way people are living and managing their lives.