Merchant

As companies mature out of their startup phase, their sales growth curves begin to flatten and costs start to rise — unless, of course, they change their business model. And that’s exactly what Square is doing to maintain its startup-style growth.

Instead of focusing on static rewards, card issuers should focus on more proactive and data-driven “rewarding.” This is a profound shift from a transactional strategy to a relational one, writes Kevin Grieve, North America Payments Lead for Accenture.

Amazon’s dominance is in no danger, but the e-commerce giant is looking over its shoulder as Walmart and other retail powerhouses close in. The fourth quarter could be a tipping point for Amazon, which recently lowered its holiday sales growth forecast.

Square gave an earnings forecast in the current quarter that missed analysts’ estimates, amid increasing spending on new products beyond its central payments processing business. The profit projection outweighed a strong sales outlook, sending shares down in extended trading.

Customer card data from nearly all of Pakistan's major banks has been stolen in a cyberattack, according to a Federal Investigation Agency official in Pakistan.

After the retail giant filed an $800 million lawsuit against its former credit card partner, shares in Synchrony plunged. Now analysts fear its relationship with Sam’s Club may be in jeopardy.

The bank says a calculation error led it to deny help to distressed homeowners; a former U.S. deputy attorney general will help with in the 1MDB fraud scandal.

As the Federal Reserve guides the U.S. on its steady march toward a faster payments system, a thorny issue continues to plague some of the most prominent efforts: Could the smaller banks stay abreast of the technologies that larger banks are readily supporting and deploying?

The Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based credit union agreed to pay $95,000 to settle claims that it incorrectly repossessed vehicles of service members.

The Atlanta-based consumer lender, which partners with both retailers and banks, cited a higher-than-expected cost of funds as one reason for its less rosy forecast.