Cards

Through its acquisition of digital payments and fundraising provider Benefit Mobile, the National Gift Card company is positioning itself to help charitable organizations grow and to strengthen the mobile offerings of retail merchants.

P2P transfer apps aren't just for splitting the rent — they can also be portals to a wider array of financial services, as Canada’s national Interac debit network plans to prove.

Banks and Apple Pay have not always had easy partnerships, but a hot market for co-branded cards gives Goldman Sachs a chance to advance its consumer ambitions and Apple an opportunity to offset slumps in device sales.

The results suggest that consumers who buy Green Dot cards are using them with greater frequency or for longer periods of time than they have in the past.

In the tug-of-war over merchants refusing either cash or cards embroiling local governments in New Jersey, New York City and Philadelphia, the Iowa State Fair is taking the middle ground. Beginning next year, all fair vendors will be required to accept cash, cards and contactless payments through First Data’s Clover devices.

While consumer spending on Valentine’s Day doesn’t approach that of the larger holidays, certain retailers — such as jewelers and florists — benefit more than others, while restaurants, bars and other dining establishments tend to see significantly more traffic for those couples who want an evening out. Increasingly, it’s also a special day for pets.

While many public policy initiatives focus on the 1.7 billion “unbanked,” we rarely hear about the nearly 1 billion people who do have a bank account and a smartphone but have no credit card nor cross-border-enabled debit, writes Eric Rosenthal, managing director of the Americas at Rapyd.

The financial services industry has plenty of tasks, such as card issuance, that can benefit from the automation that artificial intelligence brings, writes Jie Wu, a director at GoodData.

The bank says it has restored access, but it hasn’t explained how a fire-suppression system at one facility could cause a nationwide outage across all of its channels, or how its system as a whole could have been left so vulnerable to the incident.

Customers reported being unable to access online banking, mobile banking or their debit cards.

Given the competitive nature of the current marketplace and the low probability that interchange rates will actually go up, issuers and processors need to continually evaluate their infrastructure, writes Steve Gilde, director of global product marketing for Paragon Application Systems.

Visa for years has used its sponsorship of the Super Bowl to promote contactless and mobile payments, but it hasn’t squeezed cash out of the event yet.

The New York based Petal uses machine learning to optimize the limited financial data available for low-information consumer groups and millennials, who often turn to installment loans from companies such as Affirm, Klarna and PayPal Credit.

All-in-one cards often fail, but the fintech's attempt to change that narrative includes a premium card with added benefits.

Florida’s Tropicana Field has eliminated cash from all concessions, ticket sales and parking, requiring Tampa Bay’s baseball fans to pay with credit, debit or gift cards at terminals that are also equipped with NFC for mobile and contactless payments.

Americans 50 and older make up a sizable portion of the U.S. population — 115 million individuals in 2018. While these consumers may not be the first to use mobile P2P apps, they represent a big payment opportunity because of their economic purchasing power.

Those of us who have found ourselves in roles as stewards of the public trust in this sector are finding agreement in a variety of protocols that bridge even the stodgiest savings account with the coolest app-based e-wallet, writes Bryan Woods, president of Spend Inc.

The use cases for faster payments are typically considered to be somewhat niche. But if any payment can be made in real time, why should full-time employees wait two weeks for every paycheck?

Square's new card for business owners does something very bold with debit — and very troubling for banks.

Digital banking and payments provider PrePay Solutions is partnering with PayQuicker to help with currency conversions in payroll management programs globally, and to expand PayQuicker's capabilities for its clients' international workers.