Cards

Like all major and some tier-two U.S. payment processors, TSYS wants to participate in less competitive and higher growth markets overseas to sustain long-term growth, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

The desperation in Puerto Rico for life's essentials — food, gas, water and electricity — in the wake of Hurricane Maria illustrates the need for payments providers to move as quickly as possible to get the U.S. territory in a position to reinstate some semblance of modern commerce.

The explosion of interest in digital assets this year, and the multiplying of their market value, are making cryptocurrency debit cards newly attractive. Banks could partner with intermediaries or issue the cards directly, but obstacles remain before that day can arrive.

A form of digital money known as Monaco gained as much as 695 percent in value since May 17, when its issuing company tweeted that it would offer a Visa Inc.-branded payment card.

Card fraud is declining, making smaller merchants and other chip card laggards even larger targets, writes Allen Friedman, director of payment solutions at Ingenico Group, North America.

First Data Corp. is joining in the movement to provide speedy payments to participants in the gig economy of independent contractors by rolling out a debit-powered disbursement product.

Hawk Incentives, Blackhawk Network’s incentive card division, now enables Mastercard prepaid cards distributed in promotions and incentives to be added to third-party mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.

Over time, alternative forms of payment will become more of the norm, according to U.S. consumers' predictions.

Diane Offereins manages relationships with 1,000 merchants and 3,300 financial institutions.

The company has used word of mouth for its marketing, but will use the new funds to reach different channels.