Nilson in the News
Relevant and respected. The Nilson Report is quoted by more business news publications than any other in the payments industry.
A sampling of the articles where our proprietary data has been featured this past 12 months appears below.
May 10, 2022
New Innovations—Including Crypto Cards—Energizing The ‘Dying’ Credit Card Market
"The use of physical cards may decline, but there is simply too much supply and demand for credit in the market. In fact, the Nilson Report projects that credit card purchase volume in the US will grow 39% between 2021 and 2026, with outstandings increasing by 35% over the same period." > See Article
Apr 27, 2022
Bitcoin Payments: The Beginning of Something Extraordinary
Card fraud alone is expected to reach about $40 billion per year for the next decade, according to the Nilson Report. In the same report, Nilson also calls out the problem of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) available for sale on the dark web. > See Article
Apr 26, 2022
Your no annual fee credit card is costing you $700 a year, US retailers say
"Over the past 10 years, swipe fees have more than doubled to $137.8 billion in 2021, according to the Nilson Report."
> See Article
Apr 26, 2022
Why you now need to carry a wad of cash to dine out in NYC
With increasingly thin profit margins, general inflation and rising credit card fees — merchants in the US paid $137.83 billion in processing costs in 2021, up 24.3% from the prior year, according to a Nilson report — it’s yet another way for restaurants to try and stay afloat in challenging times. > See Article
Apr 22, 2022
Visa and Mastercard have already cut ties with Russian banks. Now China’s largest credit card brand might be pulling out too
UnionPay, launched in 2002, is a state-led financial services network operated by China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, and is the world’s second largest card brand with a 32% market share, according to 2020 data from the Nilson Report. > See Article
Apr 15, 2022
Visa, Mastercard Fees to Hurt Consumers, Sen. Dick Durbin Says
"U.S. merchants paid card issuers an estimated $55.4 billion in Visa and Mastercard credit-card interchange fees last year, more than double the amount in 2012, according to the Nilson Report, a trade publication." > See Article
Apr 13, 2022
How To Get Fraudulent Charges Removed From Your Credit Card
"According to (the) Nilson Report, credit card fraud losses reached about $28.58 billion worldwide in 2020, with the U.S. alone responsible for more than a third of the total global loss." > See Article
Apr 7, 2022
There was no stopping credit card fee hikes this year
"The card industry research firm The Nilson Report issued a report this month showing a sizable increase in credit card fees last year. "Merchants (in the U.S.) paid $105.23 billion in processing fees to accept credit cards last year, an increase of 25.1%," the report said." > See Article
Apr 3, 2022
Visa changes rules for gas stations to avoid $125 pump limit
"In 2020, merchants paid $110 billion to accept electronic payments, a 5.2% decline from a year earlier, according to the Nilson Report, a trade publication. That drop came even as spending on cards rose overall in 2020, the latest for which data is available." > See Article
Apr 1, 2022
Visa Changes Rules for Gas Stations to Avoid $125 Pump Limit
"In 2020, merchants paid $110 billion to accept electronic payments, a 5.2% decline from a year earlier, according to the Nilson Report, a trade publication." > See Article
Mar 18, 2022
Paynovate taps iDenfy´s ID verification solution
"According to the press release, credit card fraud remains at the top of the fraudsters’ list. A Nilson Report reveals that this form of identity theft is expected to reach USD 12.5 billion in card fraud losses in the US by 2025." > See Article
Mar 15, 2022
5 Buy-Rated Warren Buffett Dividend Stocks Have Big Upside Potential as Interest Rates Move Higher
"According to Nilson estimates, Mastercard is the third-largest global credit and debit network, as measured by volume." > See Article
Mar 11, 2022
What is UnionPay? China’s alternative to Visa and Mastercard is a controversial new lifeline for Russians as Western sanctions bite
"Visa is the dominant global card brand by transaction amount, according to 2020 numbers from The Nilson Report..." > See Article
Mar 9, 2022
UnionPay has an opening in Russia
"UnionPay is much larger than you think. It´s already the largest network by number of cards in circulation due to the sheer size of the Chinese economy, said David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report. While best known and mostly used inside China, where it has about 90% market share, it is growing outside China as well." > See Article
Mar 9, 2022
Visa and Mastercard´s long-delayed interchange hikes may arrive next month
"...Visa and Mastercard merchant fees reached an estimated $55.39 billion last year—more than double the 2012 total, per The Nilson Report." > See Article
Mar 8, 2022
Visa, Mastercard Prepare to Raise Credit-Card Fees
"U.S. merchants paid card issuers an estimated $55.4 billion in Visa and Mastercard credit-card interchange fees in 2021, more than double the amount in 2012, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Mar 8, 2022
Mastercard And Visa Suspend Operations In Russia Over Invasion Of Ukraine
"Mastercard and Visa cards accounted for nearly 74% of card payment transactions in Russia in 2020, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Mar 5, 2022
Visa and Mastercard Suspend Russian Operations
"Among the debit and credit cards issued in Russia, Visa and Mastercard cards accounted for 74% of payment transactions in the country in 2020, according to the Nilson Report, a trade publication." > See Article
Mar 4, 2022
What Are the Biggest Credit Card Companies
"Within our article, we used data provided by the Nilson Report. The organization looked at the 2019 market share for the top credit card issuers based on outstanding card balances. We used this data to compile the list below." > See Article
Mar 1, 2022
Russian Consumers Cut Off From Many Foreign Purchases
"Among the debit and credit cards issued in Russia, Visa and Mastercard cards accounted for 74% of payment transactions in the country in 2020, according to trade publication the Nilson Report." > See Article
Feb 21, 2022
List of credit card companies: major issuers and networks
"In the meantime, the latest Nilson report shows that American Express cards are also accepted at 99 percent of places that accept credit cards around the U.S." > See Article
Feb 18, 2022
Discover backs card-free payments
"Merchants paid $53.6 billion in Visa and Mastercard interchange fees in 2019, per the Nilson Report." > See Article
Feb 17, 2022
8 Biggest U.S. Credit Card Companies This Year
"Credit cards made up more than half of all card purchases and generated $3.61 trillion in purchases in 2020, according to the most recent figures available from The Nilson Report, a newsletter covering the global payment industry." > See Article
Feb 14, 2022
Discover Is Bringing a Payment Option Popular in Asia to the U.S.
"Though its cards are widely accepted, Discover badly lags behind its bigger competitors— Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and American Express Co. It accounted for just 2% of card transactions on major U.S. networks in 2020, according to the Nilson Report. Visa had 65%." > See Article
Feb 11, 2022
Apollo Nears $2.3 Billion Deal for Worldline’s Terminal Business
"Worldline’s terminal business is Europe’s No. 1 provider of point-of-sale terminals technology, based on terminals shipped in 2019, according to Nilson Report. In the U.S., Worldline is the No. 2 player, behind VeriFone, Inc." > See Article
Feb 8, 2022
UnionPay expands pact with Fiserv
"Based on 2020 statistics from industry research firm Nilson Report, UnionPay´s 8.96 billion credit and debit cards in circulation were the most of any company, but San Francisco-based Visa still ranks higher by other measures. Visa´s transaction market share that year was 40% to UnionPay´s 32%, according to Nilson." > See Article
Feb 1, 2022
Buy Now, Pay Later: The New Credit Card Acquisition Channel
"...According to the Nilson Report, however, the 100 largest US issuers of Mastercard and Visa credit cards generated $1.492 trillion in purchase volume in the first half of 2021, up 22% from the first half of 2020." > See Article
Jan 26, 2022
JPMorgan sees Viva Wallet investment as building block in Europe
"JPMorgan is the top e-commerce merchant acquirer in Europe, processing 5 billion web transactions in 2020, out of 22 billion total European web purchases, according to Nilson." > See Article
Jan 24, 2022
A Central Bank Digital Currency Could Improve Payments, Fed Says
"For Visa and Mastercard credit cards—which account for nearly 80% of the U.S. credit card market—swipe fees averaged 2.22% of the purchase price and totaled $61.6 billion in 2020, up 137% over the previous decade, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jan 20, 2022
Consumers Flock To Mobile Payment Apps, Crypto, And Contactless Payments
"Visa and Mastercard account for nearly 80% of the U.S. credit card market, and swipe fees for Visa and Mastercard credit cards combined totaled $61.6 billion in 2020, up 137% over the past decade, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jan 20, 2022
Merchants Call on U.S. Regulators to Examine Swipe Fees
"Visa and Mastercard account for nearly 80% of the U.S. credit card market, and swipe fees for Visa and Mastercard credit cards combined totaled $61.6 billion in 2020, up 137% over the past decade, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jan 20, 2022
CFPB suggests credit card giants may not be playing fair
"...The bureau did not identify the eight largest issuers by name. The list includes American Express, Bank of America, Capital One Financial, Citigroup, Discover Financial Services, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jan 19, 2022
Retailers Ask U.S. Regulators to Examine Visa, Mastercard Fees
"Retailers now spend more than $110 billion to accept credit and debit cards every year, according to the industry publication the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jan 19, 2022
Fair Isaac : Top 5 Fraud and Financial Crime Topics of 2021
"More recently, in December the Nilson Report quantified global card fraud losses at $28.65 billion. That´s nearly 7 cents per every $100 in spending, representing significant losses across issuers, acquirers, and merchants." > See Article
Jan 19, 2022
MPC Letter Highlights Amazon Action on Visa Credit Cards in UK
"Visa controls only 39 percent of the credit card market in the UK, compared with 55 percent by transaction volume in the United States, while its closest rival, Mastercard, accounts for only 23 percent of the U.S. market. Together, the two account for nearly 80 percent of the U.S. credit card market, and swipe fees for Visa and Mastercard credit cards combined totaled $61.6 billion in 2020, up 137 percent over the past decade, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jan 19, 2022
MPC Letter Highlights Amazon Action on Visa Credit Cards in UK
"Visa controls only 39 percent of the credit card market in the UK, compared with 55 percent by transaction volume in the United States, while its closest rival, Mastercard, accounts for only 23 percent of the U.S. market. Together, the two account for nearly 80 percent of the U.S. credit card market, and swipe fees for Visa and Mastercard credit cards combined totaled $61.6 billion in 2020, up 137 percent over the past decade, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jan 7, 2022
After Wirecard´s winding-up, what next for the payments sector?
"According to a Nilson report released earlier this quarter, whilst the volume of payment processing increased in 2021, the number of fraudulent claims (by card holders as well as merchants) exploded at a higher rate together with the quantity of chargebacks." > See Article
Dec 16, 2021
Klarna´s account-to-account payments bring greater transaction choice and cut costs
"The A2A integration can help Klarna save on interchange fees—which cost US merchants $44.4 billion last year, per the Nilson Report — helping increase its bottom line." > See Article
Dec 15, 2021
Card industry faces $400B in fraud losses over next decade, Nilson says
"Card fraud over the next decade will cost the industry a collective $408.50 billion in losses globally, according to an annual report from the industry research firm Nilson Report." > See Article
Dec 13, 2021
Stripe vs. Block
"...With the Nilson Report indicating that credit card payments accounted for more than $4 trillion of the payment volume in the United States in 2019, payment processors are an essential service for merchants to do business." > See Article
Dec 10, 2021
How America’s Cashless Economy Has Punished the Homeless for Being Poor
"A 2019 Nilson report found that 82.2% of American adults have a debit card, and 71.67% of American adults have a credit card." > See Article
Dec 9, 2021
Rho raises $75 million Series B for its one-stop corporate spend and cash management solution
"According to the payments-focused Nilson Report, commercial card purchase volume in the U.S. was close to $1.4 trillion this year."
> See Article
Dec 9, 2021
BofA Leans on Private Jets, Supercars to Draw Big Card Spenders
"While the company is America’s second-largest bank and the country’s biggest debit-card issuer, it usually ranks only fifth in credit cards, according to industry publication Nilson Report." > See Article
Dec 7, 2021
Wells Fargo’s Cards Revamp Is ‘Not Rocket Science,’ Scharf Says
"The San Francisco-based firm is unusually lopsided among U.S. card issuers, ranking No. 2 in debit cards but No. 8 in credit cards, according to the Nilson Report newsletter." > See Article
Dec 6, 2021
Artificial Intelligence at American Express – Two Current Use Cases
"...While our research did not identify detailed information about the instances of fraud that AmEx discovers through its AI-enhanced efforts, the company does claim that it has “maintained the lowest fraud rate among the major credit card networks for 14 consecutive years according to the February 2021 Nilson Report.” > See Article
Dec 2, 2021
Will the Amazon-Visa dispute spill over to other credit card companies?
"When it comes to market share for U.S. general purpose credit card use, Visa is by far the leader, according to the industry research firm Nilson Report. For last year, Visa had a 53.7% market share while Mastercard had a 23.2% share, American Express had a 19.2% share and Discover Financial had a 4.0% share, according to a February report from Nilson." > See Article
Nov 24, 2021
List of Credit Card Companies: Top Cards and Issuers
"...the top credit card issuers in the U.S. hold more than 80% of the market share, according to the Nilson Report. In other words, roughly 8 out of 10 credit cards in the U.S. are from one of these issuers..." > See Article
Nov 19, 2021
What Is ´Friendly Fraud´ Costing Your Business?
"Payment card fraud losses, which include both conventional and friendly fraud, rose above $32 billion worldwide this year, up more than a third from 2017 levels, according to the Nilson report." > See Article
Nov 18, 2021
Consumers caught in middle as Amazon, Visa clash over fees
"Visa is the dominant payment network in Europe, with 58% of the market, while MasterCard has 41% and American Express 1%, according to the Nilson Report, an industry publication." > See Article
Nov 16, 2021
Credit card start-up Upgrade jumps 83% in valuation in just four months to $6.28 billion > See Article
Nov 9, 2021
Standard Bank enabled UnionPay contactless payments across South Africa "The Nilson Report (Issue 1154) shows that UnionPay ranks first among all card schemes in terms of cards issuance and transaction volume worldwide." > See Article
Oct 5, 2021
Wells Fargo taps credit-averse customers with Reflect card
"Reflect can help Wells Fargo attract new customers and stop its market share from being eroded by fintechs like digital bank Upgrade.... Upgrade´s flexible card was pegged as the fastest-growing US credit card by outstandings, per the Nilson Report." > See Article
Sept 28, 2021
American Express 2020-2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report
American Express "...maintained the lowest fraud rate among the major credit card networks for 14 consecutive years according to the February 2021 Nilson Report." > See Article
Sept 28, 2021
Fitch Removes UCO on NCR Corporation and Related Entities; ´BB-´ IDR Affirmed
"The Nilson Report projects cash usage will decrease from 22% of transactions in the U.S. in 2019 to 12% by 2024." > See Article
Sept 28, 2021
Fitch Removes UCO on NCR Corporation and Related Entities; ´BB-´ IDR Affirmed
"The Nilson Report projects cash usage will decrease from 22% of transactions in the U.S. in 2019 to 12% by 2024." > See Article
Sept 27, 2021
Which companies are set to hit $1 trillion in value next?
"Visa facilitates electronic transfers all around the world. According to the Nilson Report, the company processed 100 billion transactions via its global network, VisaNet, during 2014, worth a total value of $6.8tn." > See Article
Sept 21, 2021
Visa steps up card perks to sustain growth as the US considers life beyond the pandemic
"Last year, Visa held a 40% share in global network purchase volume, with Mastercard trailing at 24%, per the Nilson Report." > See Article
Sept 8, 2021
Positive Technologies Uncovers Vulnerabilities in PAX Point-of-Sale Terminals That Could Be Exploited to Commit Fraud
"Positive Technologies researcher, Artem Ivachev discovered three vulnerabilities in mobile Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals from PAX Technology, a company that ranked third in the global POS terminal market in 2019, according to The Nilson Report. Now patched, the vulnerabilities affected PAX S920 and PAX D210..." > See Article
Sept 7, 2021
2 Smart Stocks That Millionaires Are Buying
Mastercard is the third-largest payments network in the world, capturing 24% of purchase transactions in 2020, according to The Nilson Report. > See Article
Sept 1, 2021
Stripe´s UnionPay partnership might attract sellers looking to tap Chinese cross-border ecommerce
"In 2019, UnionPay was the largest card network worldwide: It counted 8.4 billion branded cards worldwide, up from 6.69 billion in 2017, per The Nilson Report—nearly all of which are in China." > See Article
Sept 1, 2021
PayEm comes out of stealth with $27M and its answer to the expense report
"The global B2B payments market is valued at $120 trillion annually and is expected to reach $200 trillion by 2028, according to payment industry newsletter Nilson Report." > See Article
Sept 1, 2021
PayEm secures USD 27 mln in funding
"At the same time, (the) Nilson Report estimates that annual B2B payment volume presently sits at USD 127 trillion and is expected to reach USD 200 trillion by 2028." > See Article
Aug 24, 2021
Payment Cards Finally Set to Lose Their Stripes "Not coincidentally, the U.S. remains the undisputed world leader in credit card fraud. In 2019, worldwide card losses totaled $28.7 billion, of which the U.S. was responsible for more than one-third, despite only accounting for one-fifth of the world´s card-payment volume, according to data from Nilson Report." > See Article
Aug 19, 2021
Paying With a Credit Card? That’s Going to Cost You. "The total dollar amount of these merchant fees from Visa and Mastercard credit cards more than doubled between 2012 and 2019 to $67.6 billion, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Aug 16, 2021
What is a PCI Audit? And How to Get Your Business Ready
"Today, payment card fraud is a booming business with no signs of slowing—out of every hundred dollars spent with a bank card, roughly six dollars and change is stolen, according to Nilson Report numbers." > See Article
Aug 11, 2021
MOCA launches browser-based online payment assistant Mia
"According to The Nilson Report, credit card fraud is on the rise in the U.S., leading to billions of dollars in losses every year." > See Article
Aug 10, 2021
Amazon to introduce 0.5% surcharge for Visa credit card transactions in Singapore
"According to statistics from payments industry research firm Nilson Report, cards from Visa accounted for 34 per cent of global card payment transactions in 2019, while Mastercard accounted for 19 per cent." > See Article
Jul 23, 2021
Fake It to Make It: Companies Beef Up AI Models With Synthetic Data
"American Express has had the lowest U.S. fraud-loss rates among the major banks for the past 14 years, according to a February Nilson Report, a source of news and statistics on the payment industry." > See Article
Jul 15, 2021
The Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing
Merchants Welcome President´s Order on Competition
"Banks that issue Visa and Mastercard credit cards charge merchants an average 2.25% of the purchase price to process transactions, according to the Nilson Report, a global news and statistics provider for the payment industry."
> See Article
Jul 14, 2021
2022 Prepaid Card Growth Projections Swing Door Open Wide for Adoption of White Label Programs...
"This past November, the leading card and mobile payment industry trade publication, The Nilson Report, announced growth projects for the niche that likely have marketing executives around the globe taking a fresh look at their brand public relations plans to factor in white label prepaid card programs as a driving tactic." > See Article
Jul 8, 2021
Payment solutions: Transaction evolution and the IoT
"According to data by the Nilson Report, there were 368.92bn digital purchase transactions for goods and services globally in 2019 - translating into 1.01bn credit card transactions alone, daily." > See Article
Jul 7, 2021
Investors Launch Another Corporate Card FinTech Into Unicorn Status
"Bank of America was recently named as the top Visa and Mastercard commercial card issuer by the Nilson Report’s 2020 Rankings..." > See Article
Jul 1, 2021
BofA Ranks No. 1 in Nilson Report’s US Commercial Credit Card Rankings
"In an extraordinary year for payment trends, Bank of America once more retained its ranking as the top issuer of Visa and Mastercard commercial credit card solutions in the U.S. The 2020 rankings, published by the financial industry publication The Nilson Report, represent the seventh consecutive year wherein Bank of America has achieved the top honor." > See Article
Jun 25, 2021
Fighting (fake) fire with fire: can deepfakes catch financial scams?
"Global payment card fraud losses reached $28.65 billion in 2019, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jun 22, 2021
Deutsche Bank, Fiserv team up in German market
"That combination made Fiserv the fifth-largest U.S. merchant payment acquirer last year, based on card transaction volume, according to research from the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jun 16, 2021
Forget Plastic. The World´s Most Exclusive Credit Cards Are Now Made With Metal; and Sometimes Gold
"(The Nilson Report) expects there to be 150 million metal credit cards in use worldwide by the end of 2021" > See Article
Jun 16, 2021
Plaid, Visa, and the best fintech deal that never happened "While Visa and Mastercard accounted more than $5.9 trillion in purchase volume across debit, credit, and prepaid cards issued in the U.S. last year, Visa alone accounted for more than 70% of that figure, according to data from the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jun 8, 2021
Wells Fargo Goes on the Offensive With New No-Fee, 2% Cash-Back Credit-Card "The firm is unusually lopsided among U.S. card issuers. It ranks No. 2 in debit cards but languishes at No. 8 in credit cards, even after revamping its Propel card in recent years, according to the Nilson Report." > See Article
Jun 4, 2021
Marqeta IPO: 5 things to know about the fintech company serving Square, DoorDash and others "Marqeta processed about $60 billion of volume last year, which it notes is less than 1% of the $6.7 trillion of volume that flowed through U.S. issuers in the same period, based on estimates from the Nilson Report, a payments-industry publication." > See Article
Jun 2, 2021
AmEx makes online fraud fighting tech available to more merchants "American Express has had the lowest fraud losses in the industry for 14 consecutive years, according to the February 2021 Nilson Report." > See Article
May 11, 2021
Credit-Card Debt Keeps Falling. Banks Are On Edge.
"Credit-card spending in the U.S. totaled nearly $3.9 trillion on general-purpose and store cards last year, down 9% from 2019, according to the Nilson Report, an industry publication." > See Article
May 11, 2021
7 Reasons to Ditch Dogecoin and Buy These Stocks Right Now
"...By comparison,Visa and Mastercard averaged 700 million transactions daily in 2018, per the Nilson Report." > See Article
May 10, 2021
Retailers Say Fed Move on Debit Card Routing Will Bring Competition to Payments Market
"Card processing fees totaled $116.4 billion in 2019, up 88 percent over the previous decade, according to Nilson Report, a trade publication that follows the card industry." > See Article
May 10, 2021
Retailers Say Fed Move on Debit Card Routing Will Bring Competition to Payments Market
"Card processing fees totaled $116.4 billion in 2019, up 88 percent over the previous decade, according to Nilson Report, a trade publication that follows the card industry." > See Article
Top U.S. Debit Card Issuers—Purchase Volume in 2021
