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IndustryUpdate

use payment apps daily, compared with 20 percent who ONPEX, Wirexend join forces
use banking apps daily. on cross-border payments
Canadians increasingly choosing Multicurrency solutions provider ONPEX entered a part-
alternative payment tools nership with Canadian financial institution Wirexend
through which ONPEX will provide Wirexend a seam-
A payments study commissioned by the Canadian less cross-border solution to offer its customers access to
Prepaid Providers Organization and conducted by Leger accounts with SWIFT and SEPA transfer capabilities. The
found that despite being one of the highest banked popu- partners noted that in addition to facilitating international
lations in the world, Canadians are increasingly turning transfers, Wirexend will also be made bankable through
to alternative payment tools. Adoption of these pay- ONPEX. Launched in 2018, Wirexend provides access to
ments tools – including PayPal, mobile and prepaid – has cross-border payments for fast-growing businesses.
increased by 14 percent since 2016, led by a growing use
of prepaid products. The CPPO said prepaid products are Visa, Planeta partner for contactless
being used "to power new fintech and paytech solutions transit payments
aimed at improving customer experience, financial inclu-
sion and faster payments delivery through its ease of use Visa and Planeta Informatica reported they launched
and ubiquity of acceptance." new technology that enables public transit operators
worldwide to implement contactless payments faster and
56 percent of consumers change card easier, and for a much lower cost. The Visa Secure Access
usage after fraud, SmartMetric says Module makes it easy for transit organizations and opera-
tors to begin offering riders the ability to tap to pay with
SmartMetric research found that nearly half of U.S. con- a contactless card, phone or wearable device, without the
sumers have experienced card fraud, and 56 percent of expense and technical requirements of replacing current
fraud victims changed their card use or shopping behav- turnstiles or terminal hardware, the partners added.
ior after a fraudulent charge. This shows a seriously
heightened concern by credit card users while also reveal- ACQUISITIONS
ing a serious business cost for banks above and beyond
the direct cost of fraud losses, SmartMetric stated.
ACI to acquire Speedpay from Western Union
PARTNERSHIPS AC Worldwide and The Western Union Co. said they
entered into a definitive agreement for ACI to acquire
Affirm, Walmart establish omnichannel partnership Speedpay, Western Union's U.S. bill pay business, for
$750 million in an all-cash transaction. This acquisition
Financial technology company Affirm Inc. joined forces brings together two leading bill-pay portfolios in the
with Walmart to enable shoppers to use Affirm to pay for rapidly evolving U.S. electronic bill-pay and presentment
purchases over time at nearly 4,000 Supercenters nation- market, ACI stated, added that together, the ACI and
wide. The Affirm experience at Walmart Supercenters Speedpay bill-pay solutions will serve more than 4,000
is designed to be integrated with a consumer's typical customers across the United States.
shopping experience, the partners stated, adding that
customers can check eligibility through www.affirm.com/ Global Payments acquires Sentral Education
shop/walmart before heading into the store or while they
shop using desktop or mobile devices. A decision is made Global Payments Inc., a provider of payment technol-
in real time, without impacting credit scores, they added. ogy and software solutions, completed the acquisition of
Sentral Education in Australia. The cloud-based school
Discover, ZestFinance to implement management platform streamlines school administra-
AI-based underwriting tion, student management and data management. The
acquisition will accelerate product enhancement and
Discover Financial Services and ZestFinance said they development for schools using Sentral's school manage-
partnered to create one of the largest artificial intelli- ment platform and aligns well with Global Payments
gence (AI)-based credit scoring solutions in the financial technology-enabled, software driven payments strategy,
services industry. Discover will use the Zest Automated Global Payments noted.
Machine Learning platform to improve credit underwrit-
ing by taking advantage of interpretable machine learn- Payroc gains Detrok Technology Services
ing approaches to make more accurate lending decisions.
In a successful trial, Discover and Zest reported, the inclu- Payroc LLC, a merchant acquirer and payment processing
sion of more data and AI techniques reduced default rates organization, acquired Chicagoland hospitality technol-
significantly without added portfolio risk. ogy provider Detrok Technology Services. The acquisition
enhances Payroc's positioning in the hospitality industry,
while giving the company access to the best technology

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