Visa Inc's first-quarter profit beat Wall Street targets on Thursday as its payments volume held steady with Americans still spending on international travel despite an economic slowdown. Shares of the company rose 1.5% in late afternoon trading. The world's largest payments processor said total cross-border volumes - a key measure that tracks spending on cards beyond the country of issue - jumped 22% on a constant dollar basis in the quarter. Total payment volumes added 7%.
Mastercard Inc. has made some big news in recent months, but you wouldn’t know all of it from the company’s conference call early Thursday to discuss its fourth-quarter 2022 and full-year results. Mastercard celebrated recently concluded major deals that make the global payments company the exclusive provider of debit branding for Citizens Bank and the engine behind a new Pay by Bank program for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
TSG, a globally recognized analytics, intelligence, and solutions-focused firm in the payments industry, is pleased to recognize a selection of payments companies for their exceptional performance across several key areas critical to a successful platform. With the continued acceleration of eCommerce activity and the complexity of transactions, performance monitoring is critical to pinpointing issues impacting merchants and consumers. By tracking transactions and uptime, gateways can protect customer relationships, avoid bottlenecks, and eliminate losses in revenue.
Stripe, the fintech company once valued at $95 billion by private market investors, will make a decision on its plans to go public within the next year, CNBC has confirmed. Co-founders and brothers John and Patrick Collison told employees on Thursday that they will set a goal of taking the company public or letting staffers sell shares through a secondary offering, The Information first reported. The tech IPO market has been frozen since late 2021 after two record-breaking years during the Covid pandemic.
Stripe called the new agreement an expansion of the two companies’ ties, but made no mention of its work for Amazon in Asia. The post said that the new pact was “deepening the two companies’ long-standing partnership.” A spokesperson for Stripe declined further comment. “Under the new agreement, Stripe will become a strategic payments partner for Amazon in the US, Europe, and Canada, processing a significant portion of Amazon’s total payments volume across its businesses, including Prime, Audible, Kindle, Amazon Pay, Buy With Prime, and more,” the Stripe post said.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a longtime crypto critic, warned recent turbulence in the digital asset space will only continue unless a host of regulators strengthen protections for investors. “For all their talk of innovation and financial inclusion, crypto industry giants — from FTX to Celsius to Voyager — are collapsing under the weight of their own fraud, deceit and gross mismanagement,” she said.
In the face of inflation, rising interest rates and slowing economic growth, there’s more competition than ever for consumers’ cash — and even how their purchases are made.
Several banks are reportedly working on a digital wallet that links with debit and credit cards, in a bid to compete with Apple Pay and PayPal. According to The Wall Street Journal, the digital wallet would be operated by Early Warning Services, a joint venture from several banks that also runs Zelle. The major banks involved include Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America, according to the report.
hile business leaders showed cautious optimism at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the same sentiment wasn’t felt for crypto. Compared to before, the once buzzy area of finance had a much smaller presence. As our Jennifer Schonberger put it, “gone were the crypto houses every ten feet, bitcoin-themed pizza stalls and advertising from previous years.”
You know you won't survive without profit. And, in short, your customers determine the value of your company because they decide whether you're meeting their needs. Economic Engagement, or partnering with employees to serve customers profitably, enables companies to see double the profit growth of their peers. It stands to reason that the start of Economic Engagement is customer engagement. The key to customer engagement is information.
Microsoft says it is making a “multiyear, multibillion dollar investment” in the artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT and other tools that can write readable text and generate new images. The tech giant on Monday described its new agreement as the third stage of a growing partnership with San Francisco-based OpenAI that began with a $1 billion investment in 2019. It didn't disclose the dollar amount for its latest investment.
America’s No. 1 retailer is taking another cue from Amazon, in catering to other businesses. The retailer earlier this month announced that it will offer fulfillment tech and delivery services to other companies through Salesforce. “We know millions of small and medium businesses (SMBs) and nonprofits utilize Walmart’s stores and website to purchase supplies to support their day-to-day operations,” Ashley Hubka, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart Business said.
U.S. consumers are expected to spend billions more this Valentine’s Day than they did for the holiday last year, according to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights and Analytics. The NRF in a Jan. 25 release said it anticipated consumers would spend $25.9 billion this year on expenses related to Valentine’s Day, up from the $23.9 billion that consumers spent for the holiday last year. More than half (52%) of the 7,616 U.S. adult consumers surveyed said they would celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, spending an average of $192.80, according to the NRF.
What’s the saying….the only constant is change? At NRF last week, retailers leaned into that wisdom, drawing on the challenges of 2022 (inflation, supply-chain issues, international conflicts), and weighing in on their expectations for the coming year and those after. John Furner, US president and CEO of Walmart (and NRF board chairman), described the current state of play this way in his opening remarks: “This environment will remain dynamic; it will remain full of changes, full of challenges, and it’s a unique time for all of us…to serve customers as the wants and needs continue to change.”
Not surprisingly, quick-serve restaurant chains dominate the upper tier of an annual listing of the country’s top 500 franchises. For the third consecutive year, Taco Bell topped Entrepreneur’s 44th Franchise 500 ranking. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen came in second, followed by Jersey Mike’s Subs in third. (See end of article, for the top 25 listing.
“As the only payments trade association advocating in DC, the states, and Canada we are pleased to release our policy priorities,” said Jodie Kelley, CEO, Electronic Transactions Association. “From digital assets to privacy, our 2023 priorities demonstrate the breadth and depth of the payments industry.” ETA supports a policy environment that protects consumers while allowing competition and innovation to thrive, providing increased choice and making financial inclusion a reality.
The FBI on Monday evening blamed North Korean government-linked hackers for stealing $100 million in cryptocurrency last June from a California-based firm. The North Korean operatives this month laundered over $60 million of the money stolen in the June hack, according to the FBI statement. The bureau said “a portion” of the $60 million was frozen, but did not specify how much.
In 2022, U.S. organizations issued 1,802 data breach notifications, reporting the exposure of records or personal information affecting more than 400 million individuals, the Identity Theft Resource Center reports.That figure is just 60 breaches shy of the 1,862 breaches in the U.S. that ITRC counted in 2021.
Two new studies suggest that ransomware isn't the lucrative, enterprise-scale gotcha it used to be. Profits to attackers' wallets, and the percentage of victims paying, fell dramatically in 2022, according to two separate reports. Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm that has worked with a number of law enforcement and government agencies, suggests in a blog post that based on payments to cryptocurrency addresses it has identified as connected to ransomware attacks, payments to attackers fell from $766 million in 2021 to $457 million last year.
U.S. economic activity expanded faster than expected in the final three months of 2022, marking a resilient end to a year defined by stubborn inflation, rising interest rates, and battered financial markets. The Bureau of Economic Analysis' advance estimate of Q4 U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) showed the economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.9% during the period, faster than consensus forecasts. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected this report to show the U.S. economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.6% during the final three months of 2022.
Two of the world’s largest economies moved in opposite directions at the start of the year, with U.S. businesses reporting further declines in activity in January while the eurozone saw a modest pickup. The divergence suggests that while the U.S. economy continues to lose momentum, Europe’s could be stabilizing, at least for now. The pace of contraction in U.S. firms slowed in January, according to new business surveys released Tuesday, a possible signal that the economy could be bottoming out, thanks to slowing inflation and resilient demand.
The job cuts in tech land are piling up, as companies that led the 10-year bull market adapt to a new reality. Google announced plans to lay off 12,000 people from its workforce Friday, while Microsoft said Wednesday that it’s letting go of 10,000 employees. Amazon also began a fresh round of job cuts that are expected to eliminate more than 18,000 employees and become the largest workforce reduction in the e-retailer’s 28-year history.
New research released from FIS, a global leader in financial services technology, reveals global c-suite executives plan to invest significantly in Web3, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks and embedded finance in 2023, as companies look to fintech innovation to fuel growth despite economic uncertainty. According to the study, most executives across the globe say they expect a major or moderate impact from the following areas of fintech in the coming year: ESG (84%), embedded finance (84%), decentralized finance (DeFi) (82%), the metaverse (80%) and cryptocurrencies (77%).
American Express announces the appointment of Brett Mooney as President & CEO of Amex Bank of Canada and Amex Canada Inc. An industry veteran with 20+ years in the financial services sector, Mr. Mooney will lead the Canadian Executive Team, provide oversight for Amex’s business in Canada and serve on the Board of Directors. He will also directly manage the company’s Consumer, Commercial and Corporate businesses across marketing, acquisition, product development and insurance.
Bankers Helping Bankers, an online platform that promotes innovation among community banks, has named Discover® Financial Services’ PULSE® debit network its exclusive debit partner. The agreement builds upon PULSE’s longstanding support of community banks and the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT), which co-founded Bankers Helping Bankers in partnership with FedFis.
Worldline [Euronext: WLN], a global leader in payment services, has participated in the compilation of the report entitled “Tokenise Europe 2025: Initiative aims to drive tokenization”. The European Commission and the Association of German Banks have co-founded an initiative on the importance of tokenization with the support of the management consultancy Roland Berger and the participation of over 20 member organizations from France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Liechtenstein, Sweden and Spain.
Payroc WorldAccess, LLC ("Payroc"), a global payments leader, has promoted Joe Garza to Chief Revenue Officer. Garza previously served the organization as its Chief Innovation Officer, driving success across payment channels by providing the first-to-market World Access integrated platform. Garza commands over two decades of payments experience and has been integral in the development and expansion of Payroc's integrated platforms supporting ISVs, payment facilitators, and Fintech organizations globally.
Affirm, the payment network that empowers consumers and helps merchants drive growth, today announced a partnership with KAYAK, the world's leading travel search engine, making Affirm the company’s exclusive pay-over-time provider in the U.S. Now travelers have greater spending power and payment flexibility when booking trips on KAYAK.
Klarna, the global leader in the generational shift away from credit cards, announced the launch of Money Story in the US Klarna App - a personal spending summary of 2022 that provides millions of consumers with useful insights into their spending habits and helps them be informed and in control of their finances. Using the animated “story” format popularized by social media, Money Story reveals spending habits to consumers in an engaging and familiar way.
Valor PayTech, a rapidly-growing fintech provider of end-to-end, processor-agnostic omnichannel commerce solutions, announced the appointment of payments veterans Riaz Ladha and Eric Kirk to its new strategic payments business unit. The company also announced general availability of Valor Connect, an application programming interface providing one-click integration to Valor’s suite of omnichannel commerce offerings.
Open Ecosystem RegTech provider,Konsentus, establishes its MENA regional base in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide open data infrastructure and technology services to regulators and financial services providers in the Kingdom and surrounding territories.
The team is led by Konsentus’ Managing Director MENA, Saleh Alhammad, who has been collaborating closely with key stakeholders across the region over the last few years in order to support the evaluation and introduction of protected open ecosystems.
Bold Commerce, the ecommerce technology company that powers checkout and subscription experiences for leading retailers and DTC brands, announced a new integration with PayPal, the financial technology company that empowers consumers and merchants to join and thrive in the global economy with its payments and commerce platform. PayPal is working with Bold Commerce to bring payments and commerce together as the fintech company moves into the growing headless commerce market.
Wise, the global technology company building the best way to move money around the world, launched 15 new partnerships in 2022 and enters 2023 with a total of 60 partners globally. These partnerships are made possible through Wise Platform, which allows banks and businesses to embed the power of Wise into their existing platform. Almost 10 million new customers gained access to Wise, via Wise Platform, in 2022 alone.
