PayPal cuts back growth plans, again

The digital payments pioneer reduced its revenue growth targets for the second time this year when it reported first-quarter earnings Wednesday. CEO Dan Schulman took responsibility for not delivering, blaming macroeconomic factors affecting the company. 

By Lynne Marek • April 28, 2022

Clover revenue growth boosts Fiserv earnings

During a Wednesday presentation on first quarter earnings, Brookfield, Wisconsin-based payments company Fiserv said global revenue for its Clover operating system for small and medium-sized businesses grew 39%.

By Caitlin Mullen • April 28, 2022

Explore the Trendline➔

Embedded payment tools make inroads

Business customers demanding integrated tools is likely to keep driving a trend toward more embedded payments tools.

By Payments Dive staff

Checkout startup Bolt sued by fashion brand group

Checkout startup Bolt Financial is being sued by Authentic Brands Group, which owns the rights to a pack of brands from Forever 21 to Nautica to Spyder. ABG alleges Bolt's software services led to technology failures and lost sales, but Bolt denies the claims.

By Caitlin Mullen • April 27, 2022

Visa earnings rise on cross-border revival despite Russia impact

Extraordinary international events have both buffeted and benefited the card giant's business this year. Visa said a recovery of travel and cross-border transactions boosted its earnings through March, despite a negative impact from shutting down operations in Russia after that country invaded Ukraine.

By Lynne Marek • April 27, 2022

CFPB aims to level playing field between banks, fintech

Banks have long complained that fintechs are able to offer many of the same financial services without abiding by the same laws. In an effort to level the playing field, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Monday it would invoke a largely unused legal provision. 

By Jonathan Berr • April 25, 2022

Travel lifts Amex results in 1Q

American Express results benefited from a return of travel during the first quarter and future bookings are up relative to 2019, the company said. Analysts expect increased travel to be a boon for the other card companies too when they report earnings later this week.

By Lynne Marek • April 25, 2022

PayPal CEO's compensation surges

The pay package for Dan Schulman jumped last year to $32 million even as the digital payment company delivered disappointing results for the fourth quarter and cut its revenue growth outlook for this year. 

By Lynne Marek • April 22, 2022

Palm pay hits more Whole Foods stores

The grocery chain added Amazon One technology, which lets users pay with their palm prints, to a newly opened store in Austin, Texas, this week and plans to bring it to six other area locations in the coming weeks.

By Catherine Douglas Moran • April 21, 2022

Bank of America cards go green

The bank said all of its plastic credit and debit cards will be made from at least 80% recycled material starting next year. The move is expected to reduce its use of non-recycled plastics by some 235 tons.

By Robin Bradley • April 21, 2022

Mastercard picks new startup program members

The initiative aims to support fintech startups during and after their time with Mastercard by introducing the small business owners to other entrepreneurs and potential partners in the payments realm.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • April 21, 2022

Retail has a checkout problem...and speed alone won't solve it

The speed of one-click checkout isn't the answer to every cart abandonment problem, says one payments tech executive. There are other factors for retailers to consider when determining whether the checkout experience is convenient for the customer.

By Yvan Boisjoli • April 19, 2022

Inflation hands cards a mixed bag

Higher spending due to inflation is poised to drive up credit card volumes, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report. Card issuers have been eager to see stronger loan growth, but if delinquencies rise, that could be concerning for the industry.

By Caitlin Mullen • April 13, 2022

PayPal CFO exits for Walmart

PayPal's CFO John Rainey said he would leave to join the retailer at the end of May. The exit follows a rough end to 2021 for the digital payments pioneer. One analyst said it wasn't a surprise after "a period of overpromising and under-delivering."

By Lynne Marek • April 13, 2022

Despite pandemic, travel perks draw premium cardholders

Travel-related benefits remained a favorite perk for premium credit cardholders, according to a S&P Global Market Intelligence report, even as the COVID-19 pandemic has squashed travel plans. But as card issuers have hiked premium card fees, they may have hit the limit on cardholders' willingness to pay more.

By Caitlin Mullen • April 12, 2022

Payments players caught in venture capital squeeze

The flow of venture capital to startups ebbed in the first quarter for the biggest quarterly decline since 2012. Payments players, which have been big beneficiaries of such investments, are beginning to feel the pinch.

By Lynne Marek • April 12, 2022

Stripe sees growth slowing this year after pandemic e-commerce boon

Despite opportunities to sell to the creator economy and meet demand for embedded tools, the company said it won't grow as much this year as last year, citing "one-time behavioral adjustments" in 2021. The super-unicorn still expects to expand based on "explosive growth in fintech."

By Jonathan Berr • April 12, 2022

Bolt buys Wyre to get crypto in its wallet

With the $1.5 billion acquisition of cryptocurrency payments firm Wyre, Bolt aims to bring crypto front and center within its online checkout capabilities and digital wallet. Crypto "will be a major part of Bolt’s strategy going forward," said CEO Maju Kuruvilla.

By Caitlin Mullen • April 8, 2022

Midwestern grocer Coborn's gives workers on-demand pay access

The company has teamed up with DailyPay at a time when grocers are taking cues from the gig economy and looking for ways to give employees more control over their earnings.

By Catherine Douglas Moran • April 8, 2022

Amazon expands cashierless supermarket chain

The tech juggernaut opened its first full-size checkout free Fresh store on the East Coast last week in suburban Washington, D.C., bringing the chain total to 27 nationwide. That latest opening in Fairfax, Virginia, is the first of four in that suburban area that Amazon plans to open.

By Sam Silverstein • April 8, 2022

Banks aren't likely to undercut cards with Zelle

The banks earn billions of dollars from credit and debit card interchange fees so why would they want Zelle stepping in to connect consumers directly to bank accounts? "Banks would never want to jeopardize interchange revenue," said one analyst.

By Lynne Marek • April 7, 2022

There was no stopping credit card fee hikes this year

Merchants are incurring tens of millions of dollars in additional interchange, or "swipe," fee increases that the big credit card companies Mastercard and Visa are deploying. There was a loud silence about the inevitability of those boosts this year.

By Lynne Marek • April 7, 2022

Startup Fast abruptly shuts down

The one-click checkout startup announced Tuesday it’s shutting down, despite the CEO promising heady growth this year as recently as January. Fast will "permanently discontinue" its Fast Checkout service on April 15, the company said.

By Caitlin Mullen • April 6, 2022

Checkout startup Fast seeks buyer: report

In January, CEO Domm Holland said his company was fielding "incredible demand" from investors and planning big growth this year. Now, the San Francisco-based one-click checkout startup has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to consider a sale and may lay off hundreds of employees, according to the publication The Information.

By Caitlin Mullen • April 5, 2022

To ease fuel-price pain, subsidies, rebates gain momentum

Chicago and California propose giving prepaid gas cards to eligible residents and assistance to public transit users. State and federal efforts to suspend gas taxes face criticism for potential economic and environmental impacts.

By Dan Zukowski • April 5, 2022

U.S. Bank teams with Lithia on real-time payments tool

U.S. Bank and Lithia Motors are teaming up to test a new real-time payments tool for customers selling their used cars to the auto dealer in their driveways. The pilot in Portland, Oregon, is expected to be rolled out nationwide this year.

By Lynne Marek • April 4, 2022