Merchant

The findings of a new survey suggest that banks risk becoming irrelevant unless they match the speedier processes that are a key selling point for online lenders.

Two months after Mastercard lawyers urged an English appeals court to follow the lead of antitrust judges that had tossed out a multi-billion pound class action lawsuit from U.K. consumers over credit card charges, that appeals court has ruled against the credit card giant.

By Mastercard’s own reckoning, the point-of-sale financing space is a $1.8 trillion market in the U.S. alone, making its Vyze acquisition a natural way to pursue an opportunity that’s being gobbled up by fintechs and card alternatives.

Mastercard’s real-time incentive marketing initiative is an acknowledgement that requiring consumers to take action to seize a special deal won’t work as well in the mobile age.

A key question is whether the agency will restrict the ability of firms to track down delinquent borrowers with emails and text messages, which weren't in use when current regulations were adopted.

The New Jersey company agreed to buy BoeFly, which connects franchisors, small businesses, lenders and loan brokers.

Wells Fargo and the denial stage of recovery; community bankers alarmed after big banks backtrack on faster-payments pricing; credit card, auto loan delinquencies hit seven-year high; and more from this week's most-read stories.

Arguments that the central bank should develop its own system for faster payments ignore current market realities, says The Clearing House, which has developed its own network.

A hacker can infect multiple point-of-sale terminals with malware by entering through a "smart" coffee vending machine at a grocery store or restaurant. And the store owners are largely unaware of the risk.

Mastercard and MercadoPago, the payments arm of Latin American e-marketplace MercadoLibre, see opportunities for contactless prepaid cards among unbanked consumers even though local issuers have been slow to adopt the format.