John Adams

The coronavirus pandemic has made paper money literally a dirty word, causing a rush to digital payments that may be too fast for Western Union and MoneyGram to keep up with as separate companies.

The $43 billion deal was one of a series of payment mergers in 2019 that were designed to combine bank technology and merchant acquiring across multiple markets and industries while warding off ascendant fintechs offering fast access to digital payments and working capital.

Payments unicorn Stripe contends it has the financial power to apply its technology to coronavirus medical care, remote telework, business funding, and easier onboarding for companies that have been suddenly thrust into an internet existence.

The major technology companies that have chipped away at incumbent payment businesses face much larger competition from this year’s big processing mergers, but they’ve also bulked up through fundraising and product development.

The major technology companies that have chipped away at incumbent payment businesses face much larger competition from this year’s big processing mergers, but they’ve also bulked up through fundraising and product development.