REATIL BRIEFSANNOUNCEMENTSAmerican Express Co. launched Amex Express Checkout, a way for U.S. AmEx card members to check out quickly and securely at participating online merchants using their www.americanexpress.com account login information. AmEx auto-fills user card details and relevant account information into checkout fields, but it does not require card members to create or manage a new account.
Software-as-a-service payment technology company Avalon Solutions Group reported that it opened a new office in Dallas on July 16, 2015, to accommodate its success in the thriving Dallas technology industry. The company's decision to establish operations in Dallas was initiated by accelerated sales acquisition as well as by funds raised from private investors. The new office will house 10 employees the company plans to hire in Dallas over the next year.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released guiding principles for protecting consumers from payment applications that aim to reduce payment times between consumers and businesses or other entities. The CFPB wants to ensure these systems are secure, transparent, accessible and affordable to consumers, as well as robust when it comes to fraud and error resolution. The fraud avoidance outline is available at http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201507_cfpb_consumer-protection-principles.pdf.
FIS was one of 19 organizations selected to serve on the steering committee of the Federal Reserve's new Faster Payments Task Force. Representatives were selected by members of the task force and the Fed's Task Force Chair to advance the U.S. payments infrastructure, which has been accused of lagging behind other parts of the world – particularly countries in Europe and Asia – where the ability to move money instantly already exists.
For the third consecutive year, First American Payment Systems won the Association of TeleServices International's Call Center Award of Distinction. The award was created 13 years ago to recognize the overall quality of the call center industry. An independent panel of judges selected FAPS after reviewing candidates for response time, courtesy, etiquette, accuracy, proper call techniques and customer relationship management.
Corp! magazine named North American Bancard one of Michigan's Economic Bright Spots for 2015. The award is presented annually to standout Michigan-based companies that are able to thrive despite difficult economic circumstances, as well as best exemplify the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that makes Michigan a great place for businesses.
Chase Bank USA N.A. and Chase Bankcard Services Inc. must reform corporate credit card debt collection practices as a result of a $136 million joint state-federal settlement. The settlement is expected to net $5,950,000 in restitution to approximately 5,300 Chase customers in the state of New York. "There has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matter how rich or how powerful, and that includes the biggest multinational financial institutions," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Paymetric Inc. relocated its Atlanta headquarters to a larger office located in Roswell, Ga. The larger facility will accommodate Paymetric's rapid business growth and future expansion plans. "Our new facility will provide capacity for increased customer support, sales, operations and new leadership functions," said Asif Ramji, President and Chief Executive Officer of Paymetric.
Payscape Advisors opened its newest office on the second floor of an old brewery located in Cleveland, Ohio. The company stated the new location allows Payscape to expand merchant services and better assist clients in the Ohio area, as well as more effectively manage its growing portfolio and workforce. The new office will be headed by District Sales Manager Jerry Hammer, a Cleveland native and five year Payscape veteran.
POS Portal, a merchant services sales portal and provider of POS equipment and merchant acquisition services, launched Portal Advantage, a lease program devised to make it easy for merchants to get affordable tablet POS hardware. "With Portal Advantage, merchants simply pay low monthly payments over a short, 24-month term," the company stated. "There are no upfront fees or back-loaded penalties." The company noted that with the new program merchants also receive "complete hardware support, including POS Portal’s SalesGuard Protection Plan — if anything breaks, POS Portal sends a free replacement the next business day."
E-commerce fraud protection company Signifyd raised $7 million in Series A financing led by Allegis Capital with participation from Resolute Ventures, IA Ventures, QED Investors, Lucas Ventures, and Tekton Ventures. The round brings the company's total investment funding to $11.2 million since its founding, and the new financing will be used to accelerate growth and expand engineering, sales and marketing teams
SmartMetric Inc. is developing a fingerprint activated payment card that will add biometrics to card-based transactions as a better line of security at the POS. Embedded in each credit and debit card will be a fully functional fingerprint reader and a Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip. The SmartMetric fingerprint-activated card will be able to work with standard POS payment card readers and ATMs.
Square Payroll, a new product recently introduced by Square Inc., is now available for California sellers and soon will be released in several more states. The product features integrated time card and tax payment features, along with easy boarding and affordable pricing, according to Square. The payroll product is also available to any merchant, regardless of whether the merchant uses Square processing services.
TransFirst LLC was named the International Franchise Association's preferred vendor for merchant services. The IFA stated it selected TransFirst for its commitment to excellence in customer care, operations and end-to-end program management, along with its broad scope of payment solutions and standard one-call resolution. "IFA is happy to collaborate with TransFirst to help our members take their payment processing to the next level to help grow our industry," said IFA President and CEO Steve Caldeira.
Visa Inc. recently unveiled connected car commerce in July at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2015, a proof-of-concept solution to demonstrate mobile and online purchases on the go. "The solution is being tested in Northern California, featuring Visa Checkout and other innovative mobile technologies to create in-car purchase experiences that are secure, convenient and easy," Visa stated.
RESEARCHSecurity, compliance and risk management company ControlScan released a new educational white paper, Online Transaction Laundering and the Evolving Landscape of E-Commerce Merchant Fraud. The paper discusses the size and scope of the online transaction laundering problem, its sophistication, and how payments industry stakeholders are working to detect it and mitigate the associated business risks.
In response to market interest in host card emulation and tokenization, FIME, a consultancy and advanced end-to-end testing services company, broadened the scope of its white paper, The NFC Security Quiz, to explain how the security framework for delivering near field communication (NFC) services needs to evolve. The paper discusses solutions such as white box cryptography, tokenization, code obfuscation, data ciphering, GlobalPlatform's Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and over-the-air data encryption.
GlobalPlatform, the organization responsible for standardizing the management of applications using secure chip technology, published a white paper titled The Trusted Execution Environment: Delivering Enhanced Security at a Lower Cost to the Mobile Market. The paper introduces the trusted execution environment (TEE) and examines its role in addressing an increasing number of security concerns within the expanding mobile services market.
According to a recent MasterCard survey, 77 percent of Americans said they are anxious about their financial information and Social Security numbers being stolen or compromised, and indicated they would rather have their e-mail account hacked (62 percent) or their home robbed (59 percent). Survey findings also indicated consumers are ready to embrace new ways to pay and want to feel empowered with new payment options.
Transactis, a provider of electronic billing and payment solutions, and Blueflame Consulting, a research and advisory firm specializing in financial services and payment processing, unveiled market research reporting the number of billers in key vertical industries, as well as the total number of bills and statements they generate annually. For details, visit www.transactis.com/events/iofm-payments-summit-2015/.
PARTNERSHIPS2Checkout.com Inc. partnered with Bigcommerce Pty. Ltd. to enable merchants to accept payments from any country in the world. The companies stated that through the collaboration, Bigcommerce clients can securely adapt to local languages, currencies and payment methods through a seamless and simple integration. Merchants using 2Checkout will have direct access to build their businesses with Bigcommerce's eCommerce platform.
Global payment gateway BlueSnap Inc. partnered with Verifi Inc. to help BlueSnap merchants prevent chargebacks. To facilitate this, BlueSnap is making Verifi's Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN) available to customers alongside a full suite of fraud protection tools. The CDRN gives merchants the ability to respond and resolve disputes directly with the customer before they turn into chargebacks.
Capital One Bank entered an agreement with Vantiv Inc. to provide payment solutions to the bank's merchant customers throughout the United States. "By partnering with Vantiv, our clients will now benefit from Vantiv's industry-leading payment tools and services, which are designed to help them focus on what they do best ‒ running and growing their businesses," said Colleen Taylor, Executive Vice President, Head of Treasury Management and Enterprise Payments at Capital One.
CU Wallet LLC, a credit union service organization, and in-store mobile content provider Relevant Solutions formed a strategic alliance that integrates merchant offers and promotions with CU Wallet's mobile wallet. This integration gives CU Wallet member credit unions the ability to deliver promotions and offers from more than 750 national merchants, as well as local retailers, directly to members.
Commerce-as-a-Service company Digital River Inc. teamed with Payoneer Inc. to provide clients with a quick, simple and cost-effective solution for mass payouts and fund transfers to professionals and businesses worldwide. The joint solution now provides Digital River merchants with the ability to process online payments using more than 200 international payment options and over 170 currencies, according to the companies.
U.S. Bancorp subsidiary Elavon Inc. recently teamed with Emdeon Inc., a provider of software-based solutions, network solutions and technology-enabled services. Focused on optimizing communications, payments and analytics, the companies jointly launched Transend Pay, a payment processing platform for hospitals and healthcare providers designed to reduce the time it takes to receive payments from health insurance carriers.
Payment processor Electronic Payments Inc. partnered with Suffolk Federal Credit Union to provide localized merchant services to the credit union's existing and prospective clients. The addition of Electronic Payments' merchant services will enhance Suffolk Federal's business banking offerings which also include deluxe business checking, payroll services, remote deposit capture, and commercial lending, the companies reported.
Electronic Merchant Systems Inc. and Womply partnered to offer merchants EMS Insights, a platform created to enable EMS merchants to grow, protect and simplify their businesses. EMS noted that EMS Insights is an online dashboard that takes the power of big data and makes it available to small businesses. By monitoring close competitors, defending online reputations and analyzing external events, such as weather, the product can help merchants with decision making.
The New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell and The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center formed a public-private collaboration to share and analyze cyber threat information on behalf of New Jersey's banking institutions. NJCCIC's analysts will correlate data from financial institutions to identify trends, adversary tactics and vulnerabilities. They will exchange cyber intelligence through an automated threat intelligence platform.
Mobile check cashing and digital payment company Ingo Money Inc. and Global Cash Card, a specialist in customized paycard solutions, partnered to provide the Ingo Money mobile check cashing service to Global Cash Card customers. Eligible Global Cash Card cardholders now have a method for cashing checks they receive from non-employer sources directly to their paycard account to access consolidated funds to pay bills and make purchases, the companies reported.
TransFirst and TRIARQ Health, a performance management services and clinically integrated care coordination provider for independent medical practices, formed a strategic alliance. TransFirst's payment processing product will be integrated into TRIARQ's electronic medical record system product, gloStream, to provide a wide array of integrated electronic payment processing services for the medical community.
Mobile payment company Zapper partnered with Revel Systems to broaden its reach within the restaurant industry. Restaurants using Revel's POS system will now be able activate the Zapper payment option to give customers the ability to scan a quick response code printed on a bill and pay from the companies' app without waiting for a server. Zapper also captures customer data to provide restaurants with loyalty and promotion information.
ACQUISITIONSInternational financial services firm C&H Financial Services Inc. acquired the merchant portfolio of Spindle Inc. and stated both companies will work to grow and thrive together. "C&H's recent decision to purchase a merchant portfolio from Spindle Inc. was in large part predicated upon Spindle Inc.'s outstanding reputation and dedication to surpassing its customers' needs within the marketplace," said Anthony Holder, C&H Financial co-founder and CEO.
Cloud-based tax solutions provider e-Gov Systems acquired the sales and use tax software assets from JPI Data Resources. The objective of the acquisition is to build upon e-Gov Systems' current tax portal offerings and provide a back-end collection system to its new and existing clients. The combined e-Gov Systems' Tax Portal and JPI Data Resources' Revenue Collection System will create a tightly integrated end-to-end solution for local government agencies, e-Gov Systems noted.
PayPal Inc. and Xoom Corp. entered a definitive agreement under which PayPal will acquire Xoom for $25 per share in cash – an approximate $890 million enterprise value. PayPal noted that the transaction represents a premium of 32 percent over Xoom's three-month volume-weighted average price and was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, as well as the board of eBay Inc., PayPal's parent company.
APPOINTMENTSSignature Card Services selected Arturo Andaluz as its new Customer Service Supervisor and appointed Seth Yandrofski as its Assistant Vice President and General Counsel. Yandrofski worked in the biotechnology industry for a number of years before pursuing law. Andaluz began his career in payments at Innovative Merchant Solutions, later joining Intuit and Total Merchant Services.
CashStar Inc. appointed Matt Kerper as its Vice President of Strategic Business Development. Kerper brings 20 years of prepaid and payments industry experience to CashStar, where he will lead efforts in establishing and growing strategic partnerships. Most recently, Kerper served as Director, Gift Cards for eBay, where he led business development for the eBay gift card in retail, business-to-business and online channels, and third-party gift card distribution on the eBay marketplace.
ACI Worldwide Inc. appointed Charles Peters Jr., Adalio Sanchez and Thomas Warsop III to its board of directors. These executives replace three board members who recently retired and will work with recently elected ACI Board Chairman David Poe. Peters currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Red Hat Inc., Sanchez most recently served as Senior Vice President at Lenovo Group Ltd. and Warsop serves as President and CEO at The Warranty Group Inc.
Payscout Inc. appointed Juan Sotelo, its former Vice President of Business Development, to the position of Chief Operating Officer. Sotelo's promotion follows rapid growth at the company, which was honored in 2014 as one of Inc. magazine's fastest growing companies. Since 2013, Sotelo has helped to carry out the company's growth and internal process initiatives, and as COO, will oversee sales, operations, support, strategy, marketing, legal, HR, risk and underwriting, and public relations, Payscout stated. 
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