Payments

Early Warning Services brought back its Authentify moniker for a new digital ID service. It's not being marketed as a way to stop P2P fraud, but it should appeal to banks wanting to improve security for online transactions.

The very upstarts that gave the prepaid card issuer a run for its money in recent years are seeing their valuations fall and their belts tighten. At the same time, Green Dot CEO Dan Henry expects that it can help consumers manage their cash flow amid economic stress.

The Credit Card Competition Act of 2022 could threaten revenue credit unions need to manage card payments and provide security, according to trade groups.

In global news this week, regulators in EU worry about staffing, American Express expands B2B cross-border payments, ATMs in New Zealand get an upgrade, and more.

The payment company's strategy includes cost cutting, new products such as a Venmo account for teens, and welcoming input from Elliott Management, an activist investor that took a $2 billion stake in the firm.

The payments company has agreed to acquire EVO Payments for $4 billion and sell off the consumer-focused portions of its Netspend unit as part of an industrywide emphasis on automated business-to-business payments.

The payment processor is an early user of Apple's smartphone payments capability, which provides a DIY option for retail workers, but doesn't necessarily cover all merchants in all use cases.

Visa said it believes it’s an “improper defendant” in the case.

Dee Hock, who recently passed away, was CEO of the card brand from 1970 to 1984. He championed a mix of competition and collaboration among financial institutions to foster innovation, an idea that is still used in technology development.

As competition tightens in the buy now/pay later arena, fintechs including Klarna, Afterpay and Zilch are upgrading perks to keep consumers from straying to their rivals.