ANNOUNCEMENTSEnd-to-end wireless transaction gateway operator Apriva previewed its next-generation AprivaPay Plus mobile payment acceptance software at Transact 14. AprivaPay Plus is a white-label solution that incorporates features that include:
Cardholder authentication specialist CardinalCommerce Corp. reported it has processed 2 billion transactions in its history and 1 billion card-not-present (CNP) transactions since May 2012. Tara Lavelle, Vice President of Marketing at CardinalCommerce, said, "Achieving the 2 billion milestone just 22 months after processing the 1 billionth transaction is a testament to the number and kind of customers we have, who trust us with the full array of their CNP transactions."
CurvePay LLC made its debut at Transact 14. The new payment firm, based in Westbury, N.Y., said it will provide merchants and resellers with "a single point of processing services, value-added solutions and support." Industry veterans involved in the new venture include Edward Myers, Dan Devlin, James Becker, Mark Spencer and its founder, Dino Sgueglia.
The Chicago branch of the FBI indicted 17 individuals in an international ATM skimming and money laundering scheme that allegedly involved hundreds of thousands of dollars. The scheme reportedly involved fraudulently obtained account details in Europe that were used to withdraw funds from Chicago-area ATMs. Two defendants, Radoslav Pavlov and Mihail Petrov, were arrested in Sofia, Bulgaria, and face extradition to the United States.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it is important that financial institutions remain aware of constantly emerging cyber threats and take advantage of government-sponsored resources to help FIs identify security threats in real-time. Resources include:
On April 2, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission provided Congress with an update on its efforts to protect consumer privacy in the face of growing data breaches. Before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez highlighted the FTC's efforts in the data security arena, including its enforcement of the FTC Act, as well as specific statutes such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which encourages companies to prioritize data security.
At the Transact 14 President's Dinner, the ETA presented Scott Goldthwaite, Senior Vice President of Operations at Ingenico-owned ROAM Data, with the Committee Volunteer of the Year award. At the dinner, Goldthwaite remarked, "Each and every one of the committee volunteers is instrumental in helping formulate strategies and solutions that move the electronic payments industry forward, and I'm extremely honored to be recognized among so many of my peers for my contribution to the association."
Prepaid card pioneer Green Dot Corp. released its new cash reload technology. Reload @ the Register is powered by Green Dot's SwIT (Swipe Interface Technology) and is designed to make cash reloading of prepaid accounts more convenient, efficient and intuitive for users. It is expected to be an improvement over customers using a paper reload "chit."
Payward Inc. reported that it completed a $5 million Series A round of funding for development of its Kraken alternative currency exchange. Payward said that the United States is in "dire need" of a domestic digital currency exchange because the U.S. market is the largest for the digital currency bitcoin, but that the vast majority of bitcoin liquidity is held elsewhere. "Kraken aims to change that," the company added.
The National Retail Federation and its Association for Retail Technology Standards launched the Change4Charity standard for POS fundraising programs. Change4Charity comprises guidelines that enable retailers to comply with regulatory requirements for fundraising in different states without having to manage regulatory and reporting compliance.
San Francisco-based password manager PasswordBox said it joined the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance. "PasswordBox brings unique technologies to the FIDO Alliance that will help users to transition from passwords to FIDO-enabled online properties," said Sebastien Taveau, Chief Evangelist, Biometrics Product Division, at Synaptics and Chair of the Technology Working Group at FIDO.
At Transact 14, PayAnywhere LLC, a professional-grade mobile POS solutions provider and North American Bancard business unit, announced PayAnywhere Storefront. PayAnywhere said the solution is its first free-placement touchscreen tablet offering. PayAnywhere Storefront offers pricing starting at 1.69 percent for swiped credit card transactions, as well as next-day funding.
Munich, Germany-based PAY.ON AG opened an office in New York City, which inaugurated its new subsidiary, PAY.ON America Inc. PAY.ON said its new U.S. presence will enable the web-based and omnichannel payment infrastructure provider more efficient collaboration with its North American clients and facilitate the marketing of its payment platform and one-application programming interface payment gateway.
Mike Strawhecker, Vice President at The Strawhecker Group and Director of TSG Metrics, won the ETA's Member of the Year award at the Transact 14 tradeshow held April 8 to 10 in Las Vegas. The award recognizes an individual's achievement to the overall success of the association. "I believe we have been able to accomplish several of ETA's goals together and I look forward to a bright future working to help ETA, and the greater payments industry that it represents, achieve success," Strawhecker said.
Data security and fraud prevention specialist ThreatMetrix closed on $20 million in Series E financing. "Given its already strong base of more than 2,500 customers, we are confident that this financing will position ThreatMetrix for further growth and success across industries and geographies," said Dave Welsh, Partner, Adams Street Partners, which led the investment round.
At Transact 14, VeriFone Inc. highlighted its first handheld Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV)-capable payment terminal, the VX 690. The POS device features Bluetooth, 3G radio and Wi-Fi connectivity. VeriFone said the new terminal is especially suited for merchants in North America, Australia and parts of Asia, "where 3G connectivity is increasingly required for payment device acceptance."
RESEARCHA Mercator Advisory Group report, Comparing the Customer Support Delivered in Mobile Payment Applications, explores the strengths and weaknesses inherent in native, in-app customer service offerings. It evaluates the market trends and integration potential within individual categories, including closed-loop networks, mobile wallets, prepaid providers and banking mobile applications.
According to the Association for Financial Professionals' 2014 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 60 percent of organizations surveyed admitted to being exposed to either actual or attempted payment fraud in 2013, down from 61 percent the previous year. Credit and debit card saw the largest increase as the target for 43 percent of fraud attempts committed.
The Stawhecker Group, in conjunction with the ETA, published a new infographic titled, The Top 10 Ways Acquirers Can Block the Breach, outlining steps merchant acquirers can take to minimize the risk of payment card data breach both internally and externally with merchant clients. The infographic also features data breach facts, figures and helpful data security resources.
Small-Business Remote Deposit Capture: Finally Going Mainstream, a 17-page Impact Note published by Aite Group LLC, reported on a survey of 1,003 U.S.-based businesses with under $20 million in annual revenue. Aite found that 69 percent were either interested in or currently using remote deposit capture (RDC) in their businesses. Within the five revenue classifications, the $10 million to $20 million business segment led with 87 percent claiming interest in or already using RDC.
PARTNERSHIPS Atlanta-based payment security and compliance firm ControlScan Inc. teamed with EverCompliant, an Israel-based provider of merchant security risk and compliance management, to deliver brand protection monitoring. With ControlScan's SiteWatch brand protection monitoring system, powered by EverCompliant, acquirers can now monitor their merchants' websites for illegal activity and inappropriate content, the companies said.
Jumio Inc. and seven other bitcoin exchange, wallet and ATM providers joined to form the Bitcoin Identity Security Open Network (BISON). The group intends to offer guidance on industry best practices for collecting and validating buyer identification at the point of transaction via connected devices.
EVO Payments International entered a strategic alliance with ROAM, an Ingenico company, to leverage ROAM's mobile commerce platform as an extension of EVO's mobile POS offerings. EVO initially plans to extend the fully branded solution to its U.S. customers and said it will consider global product positioning later on.
First Data Corp. and MasterCard Worldwide entered a joint agreement whereby First Data's STAR Network will participate in MasterCard's common U.S. Debit EMV solution to accelerate equal access to EMV chip standard functionality for implementation in the U.S. market, the companies stated.
MasterCard is set to enter a commercial agreement with Monitise plc for the purpose of accelerating development and deployment of mobile wallet and digital payment solutions worldwide. MasterCard also plans to make a minority investment in Monitise, whose mobile apps serve over 350 banks and financial institutions, merchant partners and payment processors, MasterCard said.
Merchant Warehouse, in partnership with National Benefit Programs, launched the Merchant Portal, a platform that gives merchant clients centralized access to statements and reports, self-service customer support tools, value-added resources, and a rewards program featuring over 100 different services, from gift cards and cash advances to legal, payroll, marketing and travel services.
Noble Payment Technologies LLC partnered with Casio America Inc. to develop software that can be loaded into Casio's V-R100. The companies said this is the first Android-based electronic cash register built exclusively for the POS. According to Noble, its software can calculate in real-time the cost of using a given card, then create incentives, such as rewards and discounts, to encourage customer use of the lower-cost form of payment.
Retail Pro International became an exclusive partner of flexReceipts to bring enriched digital receipts and a proprietary analytics portal to the specialty retail sector. "Our enhanced receipts really make a retailer's e-mail stand out in their customers' inboxes with integrated video and product-specific offers," said Tomas Diaz, Chief Executive Officer at flexReceipts.
TransFirst entered an alliance with Endurance International Group under which Endurance will provide its more than 3.5 million cloud-based platform subscribers access to TransFirst's complete merchant acquiring solution as a preferred provider, the payment processor stated.
ACQUISITIONS CurvePay LLC recently acquired direct payment processor Transaction Labs. The T-Labs payment and data analytics platform and client base are expected to advance partner initiatives in multilocation, multilane retailers by integrating real-time, targeted one-to-one marketing, among other services. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
U.S.-based Dejavoo Systems acquired Canada-based Express Technology Inc., which will operate as a fully owned subsidiary of the company under the name Dejavoo Canada. Dejavoo Canada plans to market its complete line of Vega S Series POS terminals, soon to be certified by Global Canada, in the Canadian market, and offer systems support through Canadian ISOs.
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. acquired MCS Software, a school food service POS back-office and online payment provider that services more than 4,000 K-12 schools nationwide.
"MCS Software is an important addition to our School Solutions business", said Michael Lawler, President of Heartland's Strategic Markets Group. He noted that Heartland School Solutions now represents a 35 percent share of the U.S. public schools market.
Merchant Warehouse acquired global gift and loyalty program provider Opticard to expand its mobile and digital engagement suite of gift, loyalty and prepaid offerings. As part of the agreement, Merchant Warehouse will continue to invest in the Opticard platform, and Opticard will operate independently and remain in its present location.
Health care technology firm ZirMed Inc. acquired the payment processing, patient eligibility and estimation solutions owned by TransEngen Inc.
"The acquisition of these solutions complements and expands upon our comprehensive revenue cycle management platform, beginning at pre-visit with mobile patient engagement, and ending with reconciliation of patient and payer payment," said Tom Butts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at ZirMed.
APPOINTMENTSPayment technology and POS solutions company UP Solution reported that Dan Dufault joined the company as the Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Dufault has over 20 years of experience in both partner marketing and market development. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President of Marketing & Solution Innovation at Merchant Warehouse.
Jay Yoon, CEO and President of UP Solution, said Dufault's "experience in the payments and technology industries will greatly contribute to our growth as a comprehensive payments solutions provider."
Mercury Payment Systems appointed Pamela Galligan as its Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Industry Relations. In this role, Galligan will lead Mercury's compliance efforts with both internal and external policies and regulations, as well as manage Mercury's relationships with its key partners in the payments industry.
"Pam's extensive payment industry experience and compliance expertise make her a great asset to our company and should lend peace of mind to our partners," said Brett Narlinger, Senior Vice President of Sales for Mercury. Galligan has more than 30 years' executive experience in global electronic payment services and information technology. She has worked with both issuers and acquirers in credit, debit and prepaid payment products.
Technology-based merchant services provider Century Business Solutions added Scott King, former Regional Business Director at First Data Corp., to its executive team. In King's 10 years at First Data, he helped the company acquire a broad spectrum of clients. With Century Business Solutions operating most of its business on the First Data network, King's expertise on First Data products and networks will prove to be helpful when expanding Century's reach, the company said.
As Century's Vice President of Sales, King stated he aims to "focus on Century's strengths – including its vast integrations and partnership potential – to expand its ever-growing market share."
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