When it comes to making purchases, payment cards have become a popular form of payment. Payment cards can be used in a variety of ways, from swiping or inserting a physical card at a point-of-sale terminal to using the card’s information to complete an online transaction. With the convenience of payment cards, it’s no surprise that they have become a preferred payment method for both consumers and businesses. Don’t miss another episode of Truth In Data! Click on the red bell in the lower-left of your screen to receive notifications as soon as the episode publishes. Data for today’s episode is ..read more

Worldpay merchants can now offer their customers both bi-weekly and monthly payment options with a new multi-year partnership with buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Affirm, which leverages its Adaptive Checkout tool.   According to Affirm, merchants with early access to Adaptive Checkout have experienced, on average, a 26% increase in cart conversion, a 22% boost in approvals, and a 20% increase in sales, as opposed to offering monthly installments via Affirm alone.    “It’s becoming increasingly important for merchants to provide pay-over-time payment solutions with ..read more

Mainland China has banned cryptocurrencies since 2021, however, Hong Kong will allow retail investors to trade cryptocurrency under its new regulation. Beginning June 1, authorities will accept applications for licenses from crypto exchanges, enabling them to sell tokens such as bitcoin and ether to individual traders.   Christopher Hui, Hong Kong’s secretary for financial services and the treasury, told AFP in an interview that the new crypto exchange regulations have drawn in over 80 inquiries with the city’s investment promotion agency.  “Despite the potential risks involved ..read more

Google Wallet is now letting its users store their ID cards, health insurance cards, and various passes in one main digital wallet. The new features aim to help consumers keep track of all their daily essentials in a more organized manner rather than keeping track of all their receipts and cards a la George Costanza. “A lot of the things that you used to carry around with you are becoming digitized, and people are getting a lot more comfortable about what their mobile device can do,” said Dong Min Kim, director of product management at Google Wallet. “There’s the payments experience to Google ..read more

MCNA Dental—which calls itself the largest U.S. dental insurer for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program plans—has been hit by a ransomware attack that exposed the data of nearly 9 million people. MCNA posted a notice of the breach last week. The insurer said it became aware of the activity in its computer system on March 6. MCNA said data was exposed and copied between Feb. 26 and March 7. A filing with the Maine Attorney General’s office indicated that 8,923,662 people were affected. The Exposed Information MCNA noted that the following types of information were exposed in the br ..read more

Visa has been the world’s most popular debit card provider for many years. However, according to the latest research, China UnionPay overtook the U.S. Visa debit card for the first time last year. Out of the total 624.86 billion worldwide card transactions from Visa, UnionPay, Mastercard, American Express, and other major card providers, UnionPay accounted for 40.03% of the world’s debit card market in 2022 while Visa fell short at 38.78%. The count of card payments continues to grow year over year. When comparing 2021 to 2022, there was a 7.5% increase in card payments. UnionPay showed growt ..read more

Cross-border payments continue to face challenges such as low speed, high costs, limited access, and a lack of transparency. The G20 has called on the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to create a roadmap to improve them.   In response to this program, The Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) has requested that key players in the market join a panel to harmonize API protocols to enhance these international payments.   G20’s Goal For Improving Cross-Border Payments Improving cross-border payments has been an important iss ..read more

Traditional payout and disbursement methods have successfully served large swathes of the economy for decades. The four traditional payout methods—checks, ACH payments, wire transfers, and Push-to-Card payments—are all viable options when businesses are looking to send payouts to consumers, primarily when payments are reasonably large and conducted on a fixed basis. However, these traditional options are frequently insufficient when it comes to an emerging— and expanding—category of high-velocity, low-volume payouts. Especially payouts which need to be sent internationally. Why aren’t these t ..read more

Fleet cards play a crucial role in the day-to-day operations of fleet managers by offering a centralized payment system, which allows them to streamline fuel and maintenance expenses, track transactions, and monitor driver spending. With these capabilities, fleet cards empower managers to effectively manage costs, enhance operational efficiency, and maintain better control over their fleet. While fleet cards have been around a long time, new fintech players are coming on the scene, and electrification is changing the whole ecosystem. In a recent report, “Fleet Cards in 2023: An Industry in th ..read more

Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are gaining the attention of many businesses who are looking to enhance their current offerings. And for American Express—who’s no stranger to artificial intelligence—generative AI may be a game-changer. But the company is taking a cautious approach.   Laura Grant, Vice President of Product Development for Emerging Platforms and AI at Amex Digital Labs, recently told VentureBeat that while the company is looking at ways to leverage large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, it first wants to “seek to understand how it can help with its ‘3 Ps,’ mak ..read more