The major card networks have heavily invested in broader services as transaction processing loses its luster, a strategy that’s provided a ray of hope as retail and travel industries remain sidelined.
The coronavirus outbreak has caused economic activity to crater, and Visa says its focus on services, partnerships and e-commerce has provided stability and a route to growth.
Mass transit usage cratered during the coronavirus pandemic, but there’s signs of recovery based on how people are paying for their fares.
The days of meeting with mentors and pitching investors in person are at least temporarily over, but fintech incubators, accelerators and boot camps are finding creative ways to replicate these valuable experiences online.
The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic could lead to the ongoing expansion of workers’ access to early, or earned wages (EWA) through advances and instant payouts, including to new types of users.
Tokenization and buy buttons began, in part, as ways to calm the security concerns of online shoppers who were wary of moving away from plastic. They’re now becoming a way to keep a health and economic crisis from turning into a security problem as in-store checkout quickly gives way to apps and websites.
Visa is delaying previously announced interchange and fee changes until April 2021, except for changes in the supermarket category, which will remain on the same schedule.
Visa’s the first card company to push back the October deadline for U.S. gas station EMV compliance, but that’s just one of a mounting set of challenges petroleum merchants are facing because of the coronavirus.
Visa pulled its financial outlook for the rest of the year, but it already has visibility into permanent changes that result from the coronavirus — such as an aversion to handling cash.
The coronavirus pandemic has added a troubling twist to the already difficult process of converting fuel pumps to accept EMV chip cards and communicate with the stations' point-of-sale terminals.