Digital Currency Update
The Governor of Colorado said that the state will become the first in the U.S. to accept cryptocurrency for payment of state taxes and fees. Local legislators in Arizona and Wyoming drafted similar proposals. Sling, the Dish-owned streaming service, partnered with BitPay to accept cryptocurrency payments including Bitcoin, Ethereum and DogeCoin for its monthly subscription […]
In Memoriam
The Nilson Report was founded by H. Spencer Nilson in Los Angeles in 1970. Spencer passed away this month here in Santa Barbara. He was 101. Our company is a family business. Its executives include second- and third-generation members. In memoriam, we wish to share with you some of our patriarch’s life story. Spencer entered […]
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 […]
Amex Offers Design Options to Platinum Cardholders
Consumers with American Express Platinum cards in the U.S. have been offered the option of swapping their existing cards for one of two new designs shown here. Those designs were created by American artists Kehinde Wiley and Julie Mehretu and are called Platinum X followed by the artist’s name. Wiley is best known for painting […]
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 […]
Experian’s Specialty Credit Bureau for BNPL
When consumers make a purchase with a credit card, the purchase amount gets added to their existing outstanding debt on that card. That outstanding debt figure is not monitored in real time by Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, the big three U.S. credit bureaus. However, they typically see outstanding debt when issuers report “use of available […]
Santander’s Buy Now, Pay Later Platform
Santander Consumer Finance, a business of Spain-based Banco Santander, Europe’s fourth largest bank, has 19 million customers and operates through 63,000 merchants. Consumer Finance, not the bank’s credit card unit, operates the Zinia buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform, which opened for business in Germany a year ago. Zinia offers installment credit for online and […]
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 […]
SaltPay Merges Its Card Processor Acquisitions
Over the last two years, U.K.-based SaltPay Co., founded in 2019 as a payment services and software provider, has raised more than $1 billion in multiple funding rounds. The company operates in 12 countries in Europe and is building development centers in Portugal, Ireland and the Czech Republic. SaltPay has used its cash, in part, […]