Credit card bill battle may slide into 2024

Prospects for passing the Credit Card Competition Act this year are dimming, but supporters and opponents remain locked in battle over the legislation.

By Lynne Marek • Nov. 27, 2023

NCR Voyix sells payments assets for $82M

The divestiture mainly consisted of merchant contracts, Voyix’s front-end authorization platform “and certain relevant intellectual property,” the company said in its quarterly filing.

By Caitlin Mullen • Nov. 27, 2023

Digital payments have increased restaurant tips. But is it backfiring?

Some diners feel pressured by tipping digitally in front of employees, which can hurt restaurant traffic, but experts say there are best practices that can ease customer trepidation.  

By Danielle McLean • Nov. 22, 2023

Fiserv doubles down on Clover growth

CEO Frank Bisignano is betting on accelerated growth of Clover’s small business point-of-sale services, even as he admitted to being “paranoid” in the highly competitive market.

By Caitlin Mullen • Nov. 17, 2023

Shift4 CEO entertains acquisition interest

CEO Jared Isaacman said the payment processing company is fielding acquisition interest from “several parties.”

By Caitlin Mullen • Nov. 16, 2023

Lightspeed aims to fend off rivals on international stage

Competing restaurant point-of-sale players have set their sights on international growth, but they’re likely to find the European market tougher than the U.S. market, Lightspeed’s CEO said.

By Caitlin Mullen • Nov. 14, 2023

Toast’s growth slows

The restaurant fintech noticed “a modest slowdown” in same-store sales in the latter half of the third quarter that continued into October, the company’s CFO said Tuesday.

By Caitlin Mullen • Nov. 8, 2023

Block to shrink workforce

The company plans to cut about 8% of its workforce over the next year as Jack Dorsey steps up his efforts to improve efficiency and revive profits.

By Caitlin Mullen • Nov. 3, 2023

Global Payments delays new POS launch

The payments processor’s new point-of-sale software for retail and restaurant customers will launch in early 2024, not this year.

By Caitlin Mullen • Nov. 1, 2023

Amex adds cards at a slower rate

As the company’s marketing spending dipped in the third quarter, Amex acquired fewer new cards than it has in recent quarters.

By Caitlin Mullen • Oct. 20, 2023

Square adds generative AI tools for sellers

The point-of-sale provider's latest features include menu and website copy generators, which are designed to automate operations and increase efficiency.

By Aneurin Canham-Clyne • Oct. 19, 2023

Fiserv exec talks Carat competition, growth

Carat’s recent expansion of its relationship with customer Inspire Brands “is what ‘good’ looks like in many ways for us,” said Casey Klyszeiko, the head of Fiserv’s global commerce platform for large clients.

By Caitlin Mullen • Oct. 16, 2023

Fiserv buys Brazil’s Skytef

With the purchase, the payment processor said it adds about 600 independent software vendor partners and about 27,000 merchants in Brazil.

By Caitlin Mullen • Oct. 12, 2023

Payments conferences yet to come in 2024

Payments professionals still have plenty of choices when contemplating conferences to attend in the second half of the year. Here are our staff picks.

By Lynne Marek • Updated July 3, 2024

CFPB’s Chopra warns of ‘financial censorship’ in payments

The federal agency is considering regulatory action to better protect U.S. consumers from “excessive surveillance,” Director Rohit Chopra said last week during a Brookings Institution event.

By James Pothen • Oct. 9, 2023

Block cuts employees

Jack Dorsey-led Block is the latest payments company to make staff cuts and pull back on hiring as it pursues profitable growth.

By Caitlin Mullen • Oct. 6, 2023

Shift4 acquires SpotOn unit for $100M

With the purchase of SpotOn’s sports and entertainment business unit, Shift4 scoops up its rival’s customers in that market.

By Caitlin Mullen • Oct. 3, 2023

Jack Dorsey faces full Square agenda

The billionaire co-founder is likely to focus on large clients, sales strategy and IT issues after he takes over the Block merchant unit next week, analysts predicted.

By Caitlin Mullen • Sept. 28, 2023

Square adds merchant tools

Block’s merchant business, facing stiffer competition in the point-of-sale space, has added about a dozen new features for its sellers.

By Caitlin Mullen • Sept. 27, 2023

Uber to add more payments tools to its app

The planned updates to Uber Eats include the addition of SNAP and healthcare benefits payments starting next year.

By Catherine Douglas Moran • Sept. 21, 2023

Stadium payments competition heats up

Fiserv, Shift4 and rival payments players are vying aggressively for a bigger share of the market catering to pro teams, stadiums and other venues.

By Caitlin Mullen • Sept. 20, 2023

Square CEO to depart

Alyssa Henry, CEO of Block’s merchant business Square, will leave the company Oct. 2, handing over the post to co-founder Jack Dorsey.

By Caitlin Mullen • Sept. 18, 2023

Digital dollar bill resurfaces in Congress

The proposed digital dollar would create an electronic version of the U.S. currency, but it wouldn’t be the same as a central bank digital currency.

By Lynne Marek • Sept. 18, 2023

Battle over credit card bill escalates

The fight over the Credit Card Competition Act is intensifying on Capitol Hill, with Senate floor diatribes and doughnut truck freebies. 

By Lynne Marek • Sept. 15, 2023

Square apologizes for last week’s outage

Block’s mea culpa for outages last week at its merchant unit, as well as its peer-to-peer business Cash App, acknowledged “this situation was made more difficult by our communication.”

By Caitlin Mullen • Sept. 14, 2023