In the works for months, Mastercard Track Business Payment Service rolls out Tuesday with the goal of improving efficiency around corporate buyer and supplier payments at a time when these processes are uniquely constrained by the coronavirus pandemic.
When Fiserv purchased First Data in 2019, it was part of an industrywide push to combine bank and merchant technology under one roof. A year later, a key piece of First Data’s technology — and its top executive — have become Fiserv’s path through the coronavirus crisis.
When the coronavirus pandemic began, Square pushed hard to get a bigger share of merchants' online sales and consumers' stimulus spending — and even received its long-desired bank license — but found that this wasn't enough to offset the effects of the crisis.
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.
With the coronavirus pandemic forcing far more e-commerce transactions — and thus, more spending on cards instead of cash — loyalty and rewards are vital to creating lasting consumer habits.
Consumer remittance behaviors are being forced to change, with senders and recipients moving to mobile wallets, bank accounts, and cards. But many still want cash.
The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical workers is one of the most troublesome elements of the coronavirus outbreak, though prior work to declutter cross-border supply chain payments provides some hope.
Consumers are using their debit and credit cards less, and that's causing a decline in interchange income for credit unions and banks.
"We're now in a different world," Stephen Squeri, chairman and CEO of Amex, said during the card brand's first-quarter earnings call.
Merchant acquiring is a very face-to-face, sales-oriented business. And that culture has to change before any acquirers can convince their clients that they know how to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic.