Payments

Canada’s small businesses have lagged behind the U.S. in adopting digital commerce for a variety of reasons, but coronavirus might send things in a new direction.

Mastercard is part of an expanding trend toward easing restrictions to entice consumers to choose contactless payments over cash and plastic during the coronavirus.

Alliance Data Systems, which has substantial exposure to the mall-based retail sector, sought Tuesday to assuage investors' fears about the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Former Walmart payments executive Reed Luhtanen has been named the new executive director of the U.S. Faster Payments Council, an organization created a year ago to guide American faster payments initiatives.

Former NetSpend CEO Dan Henry has been named as the CEO of Green Dot, the Pasadena, Calif.-based prepaid card issuer and banking company.

For a growing number of people, the coronavirus has disrupted their daily lives in how they work, where they eat and how they spend their money. This drastic change has caused a boom in some sectors of the economy and a bust in other areas.

By embracing technology such as magnetic stripe when it seemed modern, the U.S. has been slower to catch up with much newer digital innovation, argues MSTS' Brandon Spear.

It's still unclear how the coronavirus pandemic will alter payment habits over time — will consumers avoid cash out of fear of germs, or will they favor it as the one payment option that nearly all merchants accept? An impending change in interchange rates may tip the scales in cash's favor.

Targeted marketing efforts must go beyond explaining the functionality and instead educate consumers about all benefits that contactless can offer. Responsible communication should prioritize those who are at the highest risk for infection, says The Futurist Group's Demitry Estrin.

Citi is beefing up leadership in its consumer card lending operations by recruiting Chase exec Pam Habner — credited with engineering the success of Chase’s Sapphire Reserve card — and former Citi exec Chris Fred, who will return after several months of working at Goldman Sachs on Apple Card products.

The coronavirus stimulus package has resurrected calls for the U.S. government to offer a central bank digital currency, public mobile wallets and postal banking—controversial ideas that are hard to pull off, but exist outside the U.S. and could dent interchange fees and private stablecoin projects like Facebook’s Libra.

The legislation sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, would require banks to offer the accounts so that consumers could easily access cornonavirus relief funds without turning to high-cost check cashers.

While financial institutions are encouraging customers to use their digital banking services rather than the branch or ATMs during the outbreak, attackers will also be looking to exploit this potential increased adoption of mobile banking and mobile payment apps, says OneSpan's Sam Bakken.

Britons stuck at home due to the coronavirus outbreak are hitting the online casinos, providing a boost for operators of virtual games such as blackjack and roulette.

As coronavirus forces most shopping to occur online, merchants will likely see their product return policies tested by both good customers and the unsavory ones who abuse those policies for profit.

Growing recognition that coronavirus can survive on hard surfaces for up to 72 hours — making it riskier to use PIN pads and touchscreens at the point of sale — is causing merchants around the world to rethink payment technology, especially at supermarkets.

To get permission to leave China’s coronavirus epicenter and return to his job in Hong Kong, a Chinese banker needed two things: a letter from his company and a green health code from Alipay.

Today’s consumers increasingly live in a world of customization, and their expectations mirror the need for a seamless consumer experience that addresses their personal preferences, says Envestnet/Yodlee's Brandon Rembe.

Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and banks that issue credit cards went on high alert Wednesday when the National Restaurant Association asked President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to cut the so-called swipe fees incurred every time a customer pays with plastic.

Even for companies that support remote work, having an entire staff working from home on short notice opens new complications for B2B payments and accounts receivable.