Loyalty & Rewards

An Apple Loyalty Program Tied to Apple Pay?
September 19, 2014

At Apple’s announcement of its Apple Pay mobile payments initiative on Sept. 9, something was missing: an accompanying loyalty rewards plan that some Apple observers had heard the company was developing. But despite Apple’s silence, chatter about an Apple rewards program is still growing, Yahoo...

B2B Payments
CardLab Acquired By Blackhawk
September 16, 2014

Blackhawk Network announced that it has completed the acquisition of Dallas, Texas-based CardLab, Inc.,  and online provider of prepaid and rewards cards.  The move comes as part of Blackhawk’s overall transition to expand their business beyond the physical retailer into B2B channels that see cards used as inentives...

Loyalty & Rewards
Alliance Data’s $2.3 Billion Acquisition Deal
September 12, 2014

Alliance Data systems has agrees to acquire Conversant for $2.3 billion.  The purchase will reportedly allow Alliance to form an end-to-end marketing service, reports The Wall Street Journal. Previously known as ValueClick, Conversant specialized in targeted marketing that matches companies with their natural consumer base...

Report Says Shoppers Not Wild About Mobile Payments
September 12, 2014

It looks like Apple might have a tougher time jumping into mobile payments than the euphoric press coverage would indicated, since the consumer population seems persistently dedicated to their total lack of enthusiasm for using their phone as a payment method. According to a new...

Apple Pay’s First Impressions
September 10, 2014

    The Seven Need-to-Knows About Apple’s New iPhones and Mobile Payments 1. Apple will introduce NFC-enabled iPhones–the 6 and 6 Plus of sizes 4.7” and 5.5” respectively. 2. Apple Pay is the mobile payments capability. It will tokenize cardholder payment information on a secure...

Acquiring
September 06, 2014

Over the past week, PYMNTS.com’s brief’s coverage in this newsletter has spanned a broad variety of issues. In this column, we take a look at five common elements that link many of those stories, in essence making them the “trends of the week.”   Banking...

Controversial
Apple To Get Rebates From Issuers on Fees
September 05, 2014

Apple has reportedly negotiated deals with several leading issuers to extend card present rates to Apple for all transactions involving their cards with Apple’s new mobile payments scheme. On top of that concession, they have agreed to give Apple back part of the card present...

Acquiring
Trends Of The Week
August 30, 2014

Over the past week, PYMNTS.com’s brief’s coverage in this newsletter has spanned a broad variety of issues. In this column, we take a look at five common elements that link many of those stories, in essence making them the “trends of the week.” Cards Coin,...

Alternative Finances
Funding Circle’s Faster-Loan-Approval Deal
August 29, 2014

Funding Circle, a U.K.-based peer-to-peer loans platform that  lets small businesses connect with individuals for funding, has acquired U.S.-based stealth startup LeapPay to speed up its ability to approve loans, according to according to TechCrunch. The price of the acquisition wasn’t made public. But Funding...