As millions of small businesses struggle to contain costs in the face of coronavirus-related business slowdowns, cash discounting is taking on an added measure of importance. But the process—which generally requires a price markup at checkout and a corresponding discount for cash-paying customers—can be clunky, and often places cashiers in the unenviable position of explaining the process to customers.

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Friends and colleagues around the world heralded O.B. Rawls IV on June 25, 2020, as news of his retirement rippled across the payments ecosystem. Rawls, whose career spanned four decades and multiple industry sectors, drew praise for his corporate stewardship, most recently as CEO of global payment processing at Paysafe Group. Representatives from merchant acquiring, the healthcare industry, manufacturing and supply chain distribution channels described Rawls as a down-to-earth manager who cares about people and builds strong teams.

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Education can be a pricy proposition, particularly for international students, and especially with the economic turbulence brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. So Flywire, a Boston-based fintech, has enhanced its payments platform to help educational institutions make tuition payments more manageable for international students.

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Square Inc. is making headlines again, this time for its revised merchant account reserve policy, which the company described as a safeguard against escalating chargebacks and refunds during the global coronavirus pandemic. To add insult to injury, merchants who challenge the issue on Twitter are being blocked by the social media platform, according to New York Times journalist Nathaniel Popper

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Necessity brought unexpected benefits to the Southeast Acquirers Association this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, event organizers reinvented the organization's annual conference and expo, originally scheduled for May 2020 in Miami. The new event, which took place virtually on June 15 and 16, not only drew record numbers of attendees, but it is also still live. Many of the presentations and demos remain available to those who attended the virtual gathering, as well as to those who register after the fact, event organizers stated.

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The Green Sheet Inc., which has been empowering and connecting payments professionals since 1983, and Board Studios Inc., a video content marketing company, are partnering on a suite of video services created specifically for the payments sphere. Called GS ConnexHub, the innovative suite of services is designed to help payments industry service providers create impactful marketing campaigns.

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As digital wallet growth continues to dominate headlines during the coronavirus pandemic, Skrill, a Paysafe company and digital wallet provider, rolled out a series of enhancements designed to make transactions easy, simple and fast. The company launched the Skrill Visa Prepaid Card in January 2020, followed by Skrill Money Transfer and an expanded version of the Knect loyalty app in June that enables U.S. consumers to participate in the loyalty program. These solutions are all part of the company’s plan to help consumers embrace alternative payment behaviors, stated Lorenzo Pellegrino, CEO at Skrill.

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While the coronavirus pandemic has placed many business activities on hold, not so for Shift4 Payments’ initial public offering. The Allentown, Pa., payments processing company raised $345 million on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, June 5. At the start of the June 5 trading day a mask-wearing Jared Isaacman, Shift4 CEO, became the first to ring the opening bell in-person on the NYSE floor since it re-opened for trading in late May. But unlike past IPO-related bell-ringing ceremonies, the trading floor was not packed with spectators due to social distancing requirements.

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Fraudulent activities are mirroring the ebb and flow of the coronavirus pandemic, according to new findings by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Researchers identified weekly fluctuations in physical identity fraud in the aftermath of the lockdown begun in mid-March. Additionally, reported cases of stolen identity fraud have exceeded 2019 levels, company representatives stated.

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As the banking industry continues its digital transformation journey, payments analysts are questioning whether customers will remain loyal to their community banks and credit unions. Ondot Systems, a Silicon Valley-based digital card services platform for credit and debit issuers, will shed light on this question in a webinar on June 24, 2020.

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Xomi Inc., a Salt Lake City-based SaaS provider doing business as Chargeback, completed a $6.6 million funding round on June 9, 2020, for its real-time dispute management platform. Led by FINTOP Capital, Next Frontier Capital and Next Coast Ventures, the investment affirms the viability of the company’s real-time dispute management platform, Chargeback representatives stated. The platform enables merchants to decrease disputes, boost conversion rates and optimize acceptance, according to John Munro, CEO at Chargeback.

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Good news out of Washington: Congress approved and the president signed legislation relaxing forgiveness requirements for the Paycheck Protection Program. The Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, which became law on June 5, 2020, triples the amount of time small businesses have to disburse funds received under the program and reduces the share of funds that must be spent on payroll to qualify for forgiveness of a loan.

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This article is by Nabeel Irshad, vice president, government & public sector, UK and Ireland, at Mastercard. It will also appear on Mastercard's blog, https://mastercardcontentexchange.com/perspectives/. The issue of how to tackle financial inclusion has long been a part of the conversation in banking and financial services circles. Regulations have led to the UK’s biggest banks having to provide "basic bank accounts" to cater for those who do not qualify for regular current account products.

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Payments industry leaders are predicting contactless payment methods will continue to scale in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Group Futurista. The media company hosted a June 3, 2020 webinar, titled “Future of Contactless Payments Post COVID-19,” in partnership with BBVA, Barclays, Banco De Portugal and Amazon. The futurecast included live panel discussions on Zoom with experts from around the world.

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Fee Navigator Inc., a leading AI-powered service provider, has partnered with The Green Sheet on an educational initiative. Designed to improve awareness and use of automation and artificial intelligence, the multimedia campaign will offer helpful tools, resources and thought-provoking content that reflects the partners’ alignment of values and desire to give back to the merchant services community, according to the companies.

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A June 3, 2020, webinar on the future of contactless payments in the post-COVID world, hosted by Group Futurista, will examine contactless commerce trends. Co-hosted by BBVA and Barclays, it will feature leading technologists and payments industry veterans, who will lead discussions on the global pandemic’s impact on traditional commerce.

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