Visa's Plaid deal faces antitrust scrutiny from Justice Department

The DOJ may be concerned Visa's purchase of Plaid would result in a "killer acquisition" — when a legacy company purchases a smaller, innovative player to preempt future competition, a Bloomberg Law analyst said.

By Anna Hrushka • Oct. 28, 2020

Fed, FinCEN want to make banks report international transfers of as little as $250

Friday's proposal to lower the threshold from $3,000 is meant to catch bad actors using low-dollar cross-border transactions to facilitate terrorist financing and other illicit activity.

By Anna Hrushka • Oct. 26, 2020

Explore the Trendline➔

Data-driven disruption

More often than not, an innovator may see disruption as an enhancement to be embraced. And sometimes the innovators are the establishment.

By Banking Dive staff

PayPal launches crypto payment platform

The payments company will convert consumers' Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin holdings into fiat currencies when they check out. That cuts the risk merchants assume from any volatility in cryptos' value.

By Dan Ennis • Updated March 30, 2021

Fed chair remains cautious on regulator's digital dollar efforts

The central bank's chief, Jerome Powell, told a panel Monday he'd rather the U.S. "get it right" than be first — and that such a currency should aim to complement rather than replace the dollar.

By Dan Ennis • Oct. 20, 2020

Bank of America enters the small-dollar loan fray

Balance Assist, which will launch in January, will offer loans of up to $500 — to be repaid in three installments over 90 days — for a flat $5 fee to customers who have held Bank of America checking accounts for a year or more.

By Dan Ennis • Oct. 9, 2020

Venmo launches its first credit card

After teasing it last October, the payment platform this week unveiled the card, through which users can earn 1% to 3% cash back on eligible purchases, track their spending, make payments and split expenses through the Venmo app.

By Tatiana Walk-Morris • Oct. 6, 2020

Goldman Sachs tops Barclays to buy GM's card portfolio for $2.5B

The deal feeds into Goldman's goal to nearly triple its consumer loans and card balances by 2025. It also marks the bank's second victory over Barclays: Apple phased out a rewards deal with the British lender before Apple Card's launch.

By Dan Ennis • Oct. 2, 2020

With stimulus in legislative limbo, market may see boost in small-dollar loans

Four regulators issued guidance on the products in May, but banks have been slow to roll out offerings. Higher demand may provide the catalyst they need.

By Suman Bhattacharyya • Oct. 1, 2020

OCC's Brooks defends special-purpose charters amid growing 'unbundling'

"Unbundling is not going away," the acting comptroller said Tuesday at a LendIt Fintech conference. "Customers want what they want. The question is, is our platform flexible enough to accommodate that? And I think it has to be."

By Anna Hrushka • Sept. 30, 2020

3 ways to reimagine loyalty redemption in a post-COVID world

Providing offers consumers care about is not enough, writes Mastercard executive Jamie Samaha. A clunky, manual redemption process can leave cardholders feeling disengaged or duped.

By Jamie Samaha • Sept. 28, 2020

Crypto exchange Kraken gets Wyoming banking license

The company pulled out of New York in 2015, after executives saw the state's BitLicense as too invasive.

By Ted Jackson • Sept. 21, 2020

Stripe offers $20K bonus — and a pay cut — to relocating workers

About 49% of 6,000 users polled in the workplace forum Blind said they wouldn't take a pay cut for doing the same work, but 44% said they'd agree to lower pay in exchange for better work-life balance and a lower cost of living.

By Dan Ennis • Sept. 17, 2020

PayPal expands its point-of-sale arsenal

The payments company is looking to wrest part of a burgeoning buy-now-pay-later market from the likes of Afterpay, Affirm and Klarna with a six-week installment plan for purchases between $30 and $600.

By Dan Ennis • Sept. 1, 2020

Ally partners with Mastercard's Vyze to enter retail point-of-sale lending

The bank will offer installment loans on retail purchases between $500 and $40,000 with interest rates ranging from 9.99% to 26.99%. Monthly fixed-rate installment loans will range from six to 60 months, the company said.

By Dan Ennis • Aug. 26, 2020

Advocacy groups urge CFPB, OCC to probe PayPal over school ties

The company said it had begun reviewing a list of 150 mostly unaccredited career training institutions the Student Borrower Protection Center said were offering high-interest PayPal Credit as a tuition payment option.

By Dan Ennis • Aug. 25, 2020

Citi sues Revlon creditors, wins temporary freezes on $412M after errant transfer

The court action comes after the bank made a more than 100-fold overpayment while serving as administrative agent on a 2016 loan.

By Dan Ennis • Updated Aug. 19, 2020

10 ways COVID-19 is impacting payments

Payments organizations should now act urgently to moderate the damage it does to their customers, their people, their partners and their businesses.   

By Sulabh Agarwal, Margaret Weichert, Graham Rothwell & Will Hay • Aug. 18, 2020

Facebook unveils payments umbrella

Facebook Financial, the social network's latest effort to lend brand consistency among its payment and commerce plans, will be overseen by Libra co-creator David Marcus.

By Dan Ennis • Aug. 11, 2020

Online payments provider Stripe hires GM CFO

"Stripe's mission to increase the [gross domestic product] of the internet is more important now than ever," Dhivya Suryadevara said. "I hope to use my skills to help accelerate Stripe's already steep growth trajectory."

By Jane Thier • Aug. 11, 2020

American Express makes Kabbage acquisition official

Not included in the deal is Kabbage's pre-existing loan portfolio. Kabbage and AmEx will establish an entity to manage and retain those loans once the acquisition is complete. Neither company disclosed the purchase price.

By Dan Ennis • Updated Aug. 18, 2020

Fed gives new details on its real-time payments system

One year after committing to FedNow, the central bank emphasized its effort to bolster 24/7/365 operability, the development of fraud deterrents, and a liquidity management tool that lets RTP participants help.

By Dan Ennis • Aug. 7, 2020

EBay partners with LendingPoint for merchant loans

The tie-up gives merchants an alternative to PayPal Working Capital, a financing solution eBay sellers have used in the past. PayPal's five-year operating agreement with eBay expired last month.

By Anna Hrushka • Aug. 6, 2020

The digital transformation of payments reaches its next phase

In addition to providing the technology tools, banks must help educate clients and provide guidance to help ease client transformations from paper to electronic solutions, writes Carl Slabicki of BNY Mellon Treasury Services.

By Carl Slabicki • Aug. 4, 2020

Bank trade groups push back on OCC's payments charter plans

The regulator should take care not to introduce risks that would encourage regulatory arbitrage, the groups said, urging the OCC to be transparent when considering a new charter.

By Anna Hrushka • July 30, 2020

JPMorgan Chase, Marqeta partner to launch virtual corporate cards

The deal comes as payment networks have seen contactless transactions spike by as much as 150% since March 2019.

By Anna Hrushka • July 29, 2020