Merchant

American Express is putting its involvement in the Hyperledger Project to the test, deploying blockchain technology with Boxed to enable the digital warehouse merchant to customize a rewards plan for Amex cardholders.

In an age of quick processing for digital payments, transaction disputes can still take weeks for a resolution or chargeback — an unacceptable time frame for e-commerce. To hasten dispute resolution, some vendors are beginning to offer financial incentives to merchants that agree to speed up the process.

It’s not just weaker underwriting and higher household debt levels that are driving past-due rates to their highest levels in seven years.

Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are adapting to digital payments technology at slower speeds and for different reasons than larger enterprises. Cash and checks still account for almost half of all SMB payments, and SMBs have lagged behind other merchants in the U.S. shift to EMV technology.

A borderless, interoperable global payments system makes it harder for vendors to charge high prices while forcing more innovation, writes Normand Provost, liaison chair of Nexo.

Visa Canada plans to offer real-time B2B and B2C disbursements via its Visa Direct card-to-card transfer service, competing head-on with Canada's Interac network and a product Mastercard launched in the country earlier this year.

For many borrowers, near-guaranteed approvals and faster turnaround times are more important than the lower rates offered by banks and credit unions.

Seacoast in Florida slashed the time it took to make 7(a) loans within months after establishing a partnership with an online lending startup.

This month, Vancouver became the first Canadian city to commercially roll out open transit payments. But the city of Laval actually got a head start on Vancouver with a pilot project that is getting a positive reaction from riders.

Adobe Systems Inc. agreed to buy e-commerce company Magento for $1.68 billion, in a bid to capture a bigger slice of the digital-commerce industry from Salesforce.com Inc. and Oracle Corp.