Loyalty and rewards

It took a few years for mobile wallets to get past the aura of just a "cool technology" looking for a problem to solve, but Google Pay and its peers are clearly finding their niche as a way to embed payments with customer engagement tools.

Mastercard Inc.’s European unit formally notified Belgian and German data-protection regulators of a data lapse concerning a loyalty program, officials said on Friday.

A J.D. Power official says supplemental benefits — many centered on travel cards — need to be pared down. His comments followed the company’s release of survey data that showed these hard-to-understand benefits were a drag on customer satisfaction.

Apple is expanding the list of merchants where Apple Card users may earn 3% cash back, starting with Uber.

In the age of e-commerce and the "Pays," redemptions will no longer be viewed primarily as an expense to be managed, but rather as a tool to create value through higher spending, brand engagement, and long-term loyalty, says Capco's Daniela Hawkins.

Apple Inc. and Barclays Plc have dropped the rewards program from their longtime credit-card partnership in advance of the debut this month of a new Apple Card with Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Amex's multi-merchant rewards coalition, Plenti, may have failed, but ExxonMobil never gave up on the program's potential.

Starbucks is looking to reclaim its role as the global leader in streamlined, intuitive order-and-pay systems through machine learning technology it’s developing in-house and through a deal with restaurant-tech startup Brightloom, its new equity investment partner.

When Amazon was busy driving traffic to its site — and the likes of Walmart and Best Buy were aggressively trying to pull shoppers away — it also invited several issuers to compete to be the top-of-wallet card for Prime Day spending.

Even with an economy that has slowed to a "moderate" pace, American Express says U.S. consumers' spending trends remained solid and, in the case of Amex cardholders, they are willing to pay fees for cards that come with the right features.

The annual summer shopping bonanza will run across two days for the first time, and other retailers are following suit with offers of their own. Here’s how credit unions can capitalize on it.

The Prime Day event is also a chance for Amazon to showcase a new range of devices and payment options — but in 2019, Amazon is making some key changes to how it asks its audience to shop.

Prepaid card and payments technology company InComm has acquired Meridian Loyalty, a full-service incentives business that caters to corporations.

These programs are allowed in a majority of states, but only a small portion of credit unions offer them. That may change as the need for deposits grows and consumer expectations shift.

H&M will enable Klarna as a payment option in its 580 U.S. stores beginning this fall, building on a partnership the two Swedish companies established last year.

As blockchain use cases grow, retailers are seeing more reasons to use the distributed ledger technology for payments.

Citigroup will be the first major issuer to use Mastercard technology to give U.S. credit card holders the ability to instantly redeem points on eligible purchases online and through a mobile app.

Hackers are flocking to loyalty and rewards programs, pushing marketers to embed extra fraud technology to stem financial losses.

Coffee and doughnut shops such as Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme have been at the forefront of mobile payments, and this technology could soon develop into a completely cashierless experience.

Petal's getting aggressive with its incentive marketing by approaching consumers with limited credit histories, and it's betting artificial intelligence can handle the higher risk.