Cards

Germans' devotion to cash is waning, as payments cards edged out cash for total transaction value in German retail sales in 2018.

Despite seismic shifts in the payments landscape over the last 45 years, how we handle chargebacks remains more or less the same, writes Monica Eaton-Cardone, COO of Chargebacks911 and CIO of its parent company Global Risk Technologies.

Wells Fargo & Co. said it expects to refund certain fees paid on debit-card accounts as it reviews disclosures that may have confused customers.

Over the past two years, Uma Wilson's strategy took a program that had been losing customers on a year-over-year basis and transformed it into the fastest-growing issuer of Visa cards in the region.

E-money provider Prepaid Financial Services has partnered with Garmin International for its digital prepaid cards to operate in the U.K. on compatible Garmin Pay smartwatches.

Apple Card's advantages are mostly available elsewhere, but Apple's marketing prowess will make it a formidable competitor, according to Jonathan Ebinger, a general partner at Blue Run Ventures.

Payments platform BizPayO is launching an online cash flow tool it says will help small and medium-size business owners tackle what amounts to a $3 trillion late-payment problem annually that undermines operations.

Much like Visa's CEO, Mastercard's top executive is viewing the recent mergers in the payments industry as a chance to build partnerships rather than a competitive threat.

While a majority of business payments are still made by checks, faster payments and increased cash flows will pressure a move to digital options, contends UMB's Brian Hutchin.

The use of digital payments offers significant savings over check cashing. Payroll cards and public-sector prepaid cards issued for the deposit of government benefits are two of the best known examples, writes Andrew Gillen, vice president for Global Public Sector Payment Solutions for Mastercard.