Worldline to Sell POS Terminal Business

The Terminals, Solutions & Services (TSS) business line of merchant acquirer Worldline will be sold to private equity funds manager Apollo, an alternative asset manager, for $1.92 billion (€1.70 billion) in cash up front if, as expected, the transaction closes in the second half of this year. The value of the deal could increase by […]

Samsung’s All-in-One Chip for Biometric Cards

Later this year, Samsung Semiconductors will offer card manufacturers a single chip (S3B512C) that integrates the three functions needed to create biometric authentication cards—fingerprint sensor, secure element (SE) and secure processor. Currently, biometric payment cards require two and sometimes three chips to deliver the added cardholder authentication security. The SE in S3B512C is certified for […]

American Express Card Results Worldwide

All American Express cards worldwide generated total volume (which Amex calls network volume) of $1.284 trillion in 2021, up 22.6% from 2020. Total volume is a combination of purchase volume and cash advances initiated by cards issued directly by American Express (which Amex calls billed business) and from cards issued by its Global Network Services […]

Digital Currency Update

Visa will partner with ConsenSys, a blockchain technology company, to connect central bank digital currency (CBDC) networks into existing payment rails. Visa’s CBDC Payments Module is designed to allow financial institutions to issue digital wallets or CBDC-linked cards to consumers. The pilot testing phase of development begins this year. Binance, a crypto trading platform, announced […]

M&A Activity in Merchant Processing and Acquiring—2021

There were 82 mergers and acquisitions in the merchant processing and acquiring sector of the payment card industry in 2021. Those transactions occurred in 31 countries. The monetary values of only 17 of the 82 deals were made public. Among those 17, the largest involved First American Payment Systems in the U.S. The value of […]

Diners Club Virtual Cards for the Travel Industry

Travel industry payment specialist Mystifly has 3,000 clients in Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas. It will offer customers the ability to use virtual prepaid Diners Club International (DCI) cards when booking with airlines. Acceptance fees on those DCI cards are priced lower than Visa, Mastercard and American Express […]

Nium Cross-Border Payments

Nium handled over $8 billion in payments last year for financial institution, fintech, payment service provider, travel industry and other customers. Through a single application programming interface (API), those customers have access to a complete stack of applications that comprise Nium’s banking-as-a-service platform. Applications are also available on an a la carte basis. Clients use […]

Adyen Adds Android POS Terminals

Omnichannel payment platform provider Adyen handles card and alternative payment method transactions, mostly for large global merchants. Adyen opened for business in Europe in 2006, providing a payment gateway for card-not-present transactions for clients including McDonald’s, eBay and Microsoft. Adyen added in-store point-of-sale terminal processing in Europe in 2014 and the U.S. in 2015 using […]

Visa and Mastercard Worldwide for First Nine Months of 2021

Credit, debit and prepaid cards in circulation worldwide carrying Visa and Mastercard brands generated $12.229 trillion in purchase volume for the first nine months of 2021, up 21.1% versus the first nine months of 2020. Purchase volume on cards issued outside the U.S. accounted for 55.87% of the Visa and Mastercard worldwide total, a decline […]

Payment Card Transactions Projected Worldwide

Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, American Express, Discover/Diners Club and JCB brand card-present and card-not present transactions initiated by consumer and commercial credit, debit and prepaid cards are projected to reach 800.41 billion in 2026, up 45.2% over 2021, which is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7% per year. Not included in that 800.41 billion […]