Industry News

Visa has announced Digital Emergency Card Replacement, a new service that delivers a digital card on behalf of card issuers via text or email. Once received, cardholders can authenticate and add the replacement card into their digital wallet. An estimated 74% of US travelers now using digital wallets on their trips.

Zenus Bank in the US will use ECS Fin’s IMS Payment Hub to integrate with Visa B2B Connect to facilitate cross-border payments. ECS Fin software and services provide end-to-end payment processing to clients around the world. Visa B2B Connect provides the ability to determine the accuracy of a payment, manage payment rejects and recalls, and more.

Virgin Money, a Tier 1 bank with 6.6 million retail and business customers across the UK, has signed an agreement to use services from Experian including credit and lending, fraud prevention, analytics, governance, and compliance as well as marketing services. Experian is a multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The partnership will support Virgin Money's goal of determining which financial products delivering digital products that are targeted to a consumer's unique circumstances.

Second-quarter net income of $3.0 billion, or $4.15 per share, compared with net income of $2.2 billion, or $2.89 per share, a year ago. Second-quarter earnings per share included a $0.66 gain from the sale of Accertify, which closed during the quarter. Excluding the transaction gain, adjusted EPS was $3.49, up 21 percent from the prior year.

Green Dot has been fined $44 million for what the Federal Reserve Board refers to as numerous unfair and deceptive practices and a deficient consumer compliance risk management program. The violations involved the marketing, selling and servicing of prepaid card products, as well as tax return preparation payment services. Green Dot failed to adequately disclose the tax refund processing fee for tax preparation services offered on a third party's website. It also blocked access to accounts of legitimate customers receiving unemployment benefits and lacked reasonable policies and procedures to help those customers cure those blocks.

Compared with the same period in 2023, Euronet's revenues of $986.2 million increased 5% YOY from $939.1 million. Operating income of $134.3 million was up 10% from $122.6 million, and net income of $83.1 million, or $1.73 diluted earnings per share, compared with $86.1 million, or $1.65 diluted earnings per share.

Net income was $1,622 million with diluted earnings per commonshare of $0.98. Net interest income, linked quarter, increased 0.9% on a taxable equivalent basis. Average total loans increased 1.0% and average total deposits increased 2.2% on a linked quarter basis. Net revenue was $6,867 million including $4,052 million of net interest income.

Purchase volume decreased 1% to $46.8 billion. Loan receivables increased 8% to $102.3 billion. Average active accounts increased 2% to 71.0 million. New accounts decreased 14% to 5.1 million.

Bold Commerce, a company that provides ecommerce technology for checkout and subscriptions, has added upsell and cross-sell capabilities to its Bold Subscriptions for Shopify Checkout through an integration with Bold Upsell. The integration is designed to help retailers use both products in tandem to convert more one-time purchases into subscriptions, and to increase average order value by introducing product upsells and cross-sells.

Finix, a payment processor, has launched a suite of features that allows users to build custom payment services with little or no code. The API product includes checkout pages, payment links and payout links, tokenization forms, virtual terminals, and merchant onboarding forms. Potential customers range from a sole proprietor setting up their first online store, to a vertical SaaS company.

Billtrust, a provider of B2B order-to-cash and digital payments, has extended its collaboration with Visa to support its Business Payments Network (BPN). Visa will continue to offer BPN access to its financial institution clients to streamline the B2B digital payments process for its corporate customers. BPN was launched in 2018 to links suppliers to their buyers through connectivity to their preferred bank or accounts payable provider.

OpenPayd, a global provider of infrastructure for embedded finance, has started giving its clients access Pix, a real-time payment network in Brazil. Pix was developed as an alternative to funds transfer methods available from the country's banking sector, claiming lower transfer fees, faster settlements and 24/7 availability.

Inswitch embedded finance technology will be used by N1co Technologies in El Salvador to issue and process Visa debit cards. The Inswitch’s platform will be able to handle digital KYC to set up an account with a Visa debit card. They can also make deposits and withdrawals at over 1,000 physical locations in El Salvador, and use credit and debit cards for top-offs from other banks. N1co will also offer person-to-person transfers.

Accept.blue, a white label payment gateway provider, has integrated with the Equinox Luxe line of EMV terminals that offers omni-channel support to ISOs, ISVs, and resellers in the US. The integration facilitates in-person payments across various endpoints including virtual terminals, along with terminals that are API-based and standalone models. It will be marketed to the following sectors — merchants in B2B, MOTO, Online, SaaS, and Retail.

Payzli, a payments fintech, is working with Visa to offer Payzli POS on the Visa Acceptance Platform, an open, network-agnostic ecosystem offering modular payments services, functioning much like an app store for sellers. Features available on Payzil POS include Tap to Phone, which allows merchants to convert an Android device into a payment terminal. Also available are hardware integration with PAXBiz smart terminals, advanced tokenization, and enhanced security using Visa's fraud prevention tools.

ShipToBox.com, a cross-border e-commerce platform, has launched Shop and Pay, a service that lets domestic and international customers and businesses shop from retailers tax-free by shipping to a tax free US address. After arrival, customers can merge and consolidate their purchases and have the sent to the shopper's own address. They can also have items bought on their behalf through a service called Buy For Me. That service allows ShipToBox.com to purchase items on behalf of customers and businesses from any global e-commerce retailer, benefiting shoppers whose local payment methods may not be accepted by international online stores.

Relay Payments, a fintech serving the trucking and logistics industries, will provide fuel discounts at 22 locations of Onvo, a hospitality chain that operates travel plazas with hotels and restaurants for motorists and truck drivers. Drivers pay using Relay’s mobile app. The company will also deploy Relay’s anti-card skimming fraud protection technology.

Swipesum, a payment processing and merchant services consultancy, and Visa-owned Authorize.net are both collaborating with 4aGoodCause, an online donation platform. Swipesum will provide nonprofits using the platform with payment support and consulting ranging from industry education to contract negotiation with payment providers. They will also have access to Swipesum’s AI-powered statement-reading software, Staitment, which reveals hidden and reducible payment processing fees.
Authorize.net will route transaction data and provide flexible payment options that allow donors to pay with their preferred method.

Skim Swipe, developed by Berkeley Varitronics Systems, is a card-sized hand-held device that detects skimmers on both sides of the card slot when inserted into a reader. If a skimmer is present, the device will issue a visible and audible alert, warning retail workers, owners and managers as well as fraud prevention and law enforcement agents. According to FICO, card skimming in the US grew by 700% in the first half of 2022, and there has been a 96% jump in compromised debit cards in 2023.

America First Credit Union has selected Loquat to help its small business members onboard mobile financial products. Loquat also provides virtual debit and credit cards, and enables payment and lending products to be established within minutes using proprietary technology.

Ecommpay, an end-to-end payments platform, has a new feature that will allow merchants to collect recurring payments from PayPal customers. It be added to subscription card payments and direct debits already available from PayPal. The target market is merchants with subscription-based business models, such as meal kit delivery services, pay TV and beauty boxes. All subscriptions can be handled from their PayPal dashboard.

Galileo Financial Technologies, owned by SoFi Technologies, has begun supplying fintechs that partner with Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB) with wire transfer capabilities. Galileo's wire transfer API connects fintechs with Fedwire via sponsor bank CFSB.

Ebanx, a global technology company specializing in payment services for rising markets, has partnered with Zuora to enhance processing of local payments for subscriptions and recurring revenue. The partnership focuses on Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, South Africa, and Nigeria, and facilitates payments with credit and debit cards, including those that are not enabled for cross-border purchases, as well as Pix payments

Target will stop accepting personal checks as a form of payment at checkout starting July 15, citing extremely low volumes. The retailer will still accept cash along with digital wallet payments like Apple Pay, Snap/EBT, BNPL and credit and debit cards.

Discover has launched Balance+, fee-free product for overdraft protection on its Cashback Debit Checking account. Account holders can overdraw their checking account up to $200 on debit card purchases with no fees. To qualify, an account must be in good standing with a balance greater than $0, and account holders must receive at least one qualifying direct deposit of $200+ per month for the last two calendar months.