Good Monday morning. Here’s what’s trending in the global payments news and what you need to know as the week gets underway.
AmEx debuts debit card in war for small-business customers
American Express Co. unveiled its first-ever debit card as competition for small-business customers heats up. The card will be part of a new digital business checking account, New York-based AmEx said in a statement Thursday. While other banks have long used AmEx’s network for debit cards of their own, this marks the first time the payments giant is issuing a debit card itself. Read more…
Hidden costs of paying US household bills jumped 37% in 2021
US households spent more than $4.4 trillion on household bill payments in 2020. Unfortunately, the hidden costs with paying bills soared 37.6% to $119 billion from $74 billion in 2020. That cost the average US household $925 in additional hidden costs compared with $577 in 2020 due mainly to the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more…
E-commerce fraud attacks decline on 3DS revisions
Revisions to the 3DS security protocol have helped drive down e-commerce fraud by 36% in the past 12 months, despite a significant uptick in online shopping, according to an analysis by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. The nine percent decline in automated bot attacks seen across e-commerce is in sharp contrast to a significant rise in attacks against media (174%) and financial services (28%) businesses. Read more…
Fiserv posts strong Q3 but stock dips on lost client identified as Stripe
This week, Fiserv shares dived despite the firm beating analysts’ expectations for its third-quarter results after it revealed that it lost a “large processing client,” which was understood to be Stripe. Not named Fiserv, the client has been identified by Mizuho Securities analyst Dan Dolev as Stripe. Fiserv posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.47, above the Street’s expectations of $1.45. Read more…
Cybersource, a Visa Solution, and fintech EBANX to handle payments in Brazil
Cybersource’s customers across the globe will have access to EBANX’s payment services for Brazil and provide their clients in the South American nation with the option to make online payments for products and services using domestic payment methods, such as local debit cards, credit cards, and flexible installments. Read more…
FBI raids Chinese POS terminal maker PAX Technology
Chinese POS terminal provider PAX Technology is at the center of a security scare that has seen the FBI raid its Florida offices and payments processor Worldpay replace its devices. Earlier this week, the FBI raided a Jacksonville PAX Technology warehouse, executing a court-authorized search as part of an investigation. According to security blogger Brian Krebs, the raid is linked to concerns that PAX devices may have been involved in cyberattacks on firms in the US and EU. Read more…you
Nubank IPO filing, valuation spotlights heady neobank growth expectations
Bloomberg noted that the company’s revenue for the first half of 2021 is more than $716 million, with a net income of $13.7 million. The Berkshire Hathaway-backed company has 40 million users in Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, growing from 34 million users at the beginning of this year. The reported $55 billion valuation that Nubank might fetch if/when it goes public early next year would tower over the $33 billion valuation Revolut got in its funding round last summer. Read more…
Elavon eyes BNPL arena
Elavon, the card payments processor owned by US Bank, wants to squeeze its way into the fast-growing buy now-pay later business. Elavon, which currently doesn’t offer a BNPL, is “assessing” how to capitalize on the new trend, as Elavon CEO Jamie Walker said in an interview Friday. Asked whether the company is more likely to build a BNPL offering or buy its way in, Walker said details of Elavon’s strategy are being worked out. Read more…
BNPL needs Visa to scale, CEO argues
While BNPL providers, such as the Swedish Klarna and Australian Afterpay, have created a worldwide following for letting consumers pay for goods and services installments, the US market is just catching on now. Still, during a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, San Francisco-based Visa’s executives contended that the card company is frequently behind the scenes processing those payments and allowing the new entrants to scale. Read more…
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