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New PayPal CFO takes medical leave

PayPal SVP of Capital Markets Gabrielle Rabinovitch will step in for her second round as interim CFO as Blake Jorgensen departs for medical leave.

CFPB mulls rules for BNPL

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is weighing new rules and guidance for the fast-growing buy now-pay later industry after wrapping up a comprehensive report on it.

Amex, Discover see lasting credit changes

The chief financial officers at American Express and Discover each said this week that pre-pandemic credit metrics for delinquencies and charge-offs won’t soon return.

Visa raises concerns on new gun code

Visa cautioned the public about perceiving a new merchant code for gun-sellers as a means to interfere with any lawful sales. And the NRA said it’s seeking to water down implementation of the new code.

Fiserv CEO downplays margin pressure

CEO Frank Bisignano said expenses related to “synergy work” have tapered off, with benefits becoming visible in the second half of the year.

Zelle counters scam talk with growth rates

The instant payments brand is highlighting a double-digit growth rate for its peer-to-peer payments tool and downplaying scams on its system.

Holiday spending to rise 7.1%: Mastercard

The big credit card company forecast an increase in spending by consumers for the yearend U.S. holiday shopping season. 

JPMorgan buys payments firm Renovite

The biggest U.S. bank is buying the payments company as competition in the checkout and card processing ecosystem mounts.

Visa to adopt new coding for gun merchants

Card network juggernaut Visa said it will adhere to a new standard for identifying independent gun shops with a unique merchant code after an international body adopted the new approach last week.

Bolt drops Wyre purchase

The checkout startup had planned to purchase the cryptocurrency payments firm for $1.5 billion. That was before the collapse of crypto values recently.

Ramp jumps into cross-border payments

The fintech startup is adding services as it targets a bigger bite of the $120 trillion business-to-business payments market.

Google invests in new cohort of Black entrepreneurs

The tech behemoth invested another $5 million in Black entrepreneurs, including some that have founded firms in the payments arena.

Gun merchant code approved for card purchases

An international standards body approved a new merchant code that will apply to gun sellers for transactions using credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard.

Updated Sept. 9, 2022

New Fed official speaks to payments, crypto and FedNow

Here are 10 takeaways from the Fed's new head of supervision, on everything from payments to crypto to FedNow.

Mesh Payments raises $60M

The payments company hopes to gain more business-to-business payments market share as the demand for expense management services rises.

Healthcare fintechs targeted by cyber criminals

Cybersecurity professionals say healthcare payments processing firms are particularly vulnerable to information technology breaches and ransom demands.

Basic income pilots gain momentum across US cities

At least a dozen U.S. cities have implemented unconditional direct cash payment programs over the past year, as advocates seek to build evidence and experts debate the most effective structures.

Lawmakers push card companies to back gun-merchant code

Democratic Congress members, in letters to the CEOs of Visa, Mastercard and American Express, pressed the companies to support creating a merchant code for gun sellers.

Visa, Mastercard face cross-border fee questions in U.K.

The U.S. card giants are taking a stand in defense of their services for cross-border transactions as U.K.’s parliament and regulators scrutinize higher fees.

Strange bedfellows question CBDC

The Fed has an uphill effort ahead in pursuing a central bank digital currency, as evidenced by extensive skepticism from two disparate groups.

Consumers need credit card reform

“It's not just merchants at the mercy of the oligopoly,” writes Ed Mierzwinski, a senior director at the Public Interest Research Group. “Consumers all pay more at the store and more at the pump.”

Go slow on a CBDC, Nacha says

The biggest payment system in the U.S. recommends limited implementation of a central bank digital currency if the Federal Reserve pursues that digital dollar.

Credit card interest rates reach record

With the Federal Reserve pushing up interest rates to calm inflation, the average credit card interest rate is climbing, too, reaching a two-decade-plus record in August.

Who’s afraid of FedNow? Not Visa

Visa's CFO on Wednesday brushed off any concerns about the threat of new competition from FedNow, or any other real-time payments system.

Fiserv buys LR2 Group

The global payments processor said it paid $26 million to acquire the independent sales organization, which had been a long-time partner.