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NewsBriefs

Following are excerpts from news stories recently posted under Breaking Theresa McEndree, vice president of marketing at
Industry News on our home page. For links to these and other full Blackhawk Network, was also surprised by the disconnect
news stories, please visit www.greensheet.com/breakingnews. between digital payments and in-store POS. "We're still
php?flag=previous_breaking_news. seeing slower adoption of digital trends in the U.S. than
in other markets, like Asia, but research continues to show
consumer demand for seamless omnichannel payment
experiences is growing," she said.
Travelex partially restored after cyberattack

Travelex disclosed Jan. 17, 2020, that its automated order
placement service is back online in the United Kingdom,
the global foreign exchange company's largest market.
Visa's Plaid acquisition a Big Show stopper Travelex CEO Tony D'Souza thanked partners, customers
and staff for their patience as the company works to restore
Two days into NRF 2020, Visa's $5.3 billion dollar Plaid services following a Dec. 31, 2019, ransomware attack
acquisition, disclosed Jan. 13, 2013, momentarily stole that impacted worldwide operations and put partnering
retail's Big Show. Payments analysts reacted to the news organizations around the world in harm's way.
with a mixture of awe and disbelief. Among them was
Fintech Today's Ian Kar, who stated, "I didn't really expect In a Jan. 16, 2020, post titled "Major Companies Shared
this." He suggested Visa may have seen Plaid as a threat Vulnerability Used in Travelex Cyberattack," Wall Street
due to the ways in which its financial network manages Journal reporters Caitlin Ostroff and Anna Isaac claimed
funds and data at scale. forensic investigators identified a vulnerability in a VPN
that hackers exploited in the Travelex attack. Ostroff and
Al Kelly, CEO and chairman of Visa, described Plaid as Isaac named several U.S. companies that may be at risk.
a fintech leader with best-in-class capabilities and talent.
"The acquisition, combined with our many fintech efforts "Purdue Pharma LP, Revlon Inc. REV - 2.54% and Texas
already underway, will position Visa to deliver even Instruments Inc TXN – 0.01% were among companies
more value for developers, financial institutions and using Pulse Secure VPN to create secure remote logins
consumers," he said. for their staff, according to Troy Mursch, chief research
officer at Bad Packets," they wrote. "A loophole in that tool
Zach Perret, CEO and co-founder of Plaid, added, "Plaid's can and has been exploited by cybercriminals, Mr. Mursch
mission is to make money easier for everyone, and we are said."
excited for this opportunity to continue delivering on that US card giants one step closer to China
promise at a global scale. … [T]ogether Visa and Plaid can
support the rapid growth of digital financial services." The trade agreement signed this month between the
Blackhawk study highlights digital wallet growth United States and China contained good news for U.S.
payments giants Mastercard, Visa and American Express:
A recent study by Blackhawk Network makes a case for a shot at access to China's $27 trillion payments market. To
implementing mobile wallets in retail and hospitality date, the Chinese market for electronic payments has been
establishments. Talbott Roche, Blackhawk Network CEO dominated by two Chinese firms, Alipay, a subsidiary of
and president, pointed out that the cost of losing market
share far outweighs any investments in infrastructure
upgrades. A Also find us on lso find us on FFacebook, acebook,
L LinkedIn & inkedIn & TTwitter for the witter for the
Citing research highlights presented at NRF 2020 on Jan.
most up-to-date stories, t up-to-date stories,
13, 2020, Roche indicated that three out of five smartphone mos
c
owners use some form of mobile wallet, but few digital can’t miss events and newest an’t miss events and newest
payments options are available at U.S. brick-and-mortar ind
industry announcements.ustry announcements.
stores. She noted that U.S. mobile wallet spend may reach
$190 billion by 2021 and urged retailers to offer more
digital payments options at checkout.
"We have seen incredible success stories in other markets
like Asia, and the global share of mobile wallet market
size is projected to reach almost $3 trillion by 2022," Roche h https://www.facebook.com/TheGreenSheetIncttps://www.facebook.com/TheGreenSheetInc
said. "U.S. retailers have a huge chance for engagement h https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-green-sheetttps://www.linkedin.com/company/the-green-sheet
and for driving greater footfall in their stores by
leveraging omnichannel payments experiences and better h https://twitter.com/The_Green_Sheetttps://twitter.com/The_Green_Sheet
acknowledging the digital shopper."
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