RETAIL BRIEFSANNOUNCEMENTSAmerican Express Co. and Airbnb Inc. completed an integration that enables U.S. AmEx card members to quickly and seamlessly sign up for Airbnb and book stays at close to 2 million listings around the globe. Card members can create an Airbnb account with their existing americanexpress.com account credentials and will also have the opportunity to use their AmEx login to authenticate as AmEx card members on their Airbnb profiles.
The ATM Industry Association released a review of recent and ongoing advocacy efforts for its U.S. members in an effort to keep them engaged in issues and to familiarize others with ATMIA's role in the payments industry. ATMIA also issued a response to what it considers to be misleading statements about ATM fees contained in a number of recent U.S. news articles. The statement encourages legislators and regulators to consider facts when evaluating the state of the industry.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray issued a statement in response to a RushCard prepaid snafu in which many consumers indicated they had been unable to access funds in their accounts for more than a week. "The CFPB is taking direct action to get to the bottom of this situation that may have harmed thousands of innocent consumers already," said Cordray.
Electronic Payments Inc. hosted a two-day yard sale to benefit Long Island charities. Numerous items were available for purchase from the former Cinco de Mayo Restaurant, the building Electronic Payments recently acquired to develop a state-of-the-art storage and deployment facility. The yard sale also featured a collection of gently used commodities and goods donated by Electronic Payments’ staff and colleagues.
Technology industry firms Amazon Inc., Apple Inc., Google Inc., Intuit Inc. and PayPal Inc. formed Financial Innovation Now, a coalition established to promote policies to help foster greater innovation in financial services. "Innovation is coming to financial services, and now is the time for Washington to help enable a modern financial system that is more accessible, affordable and secure," said Brian Peters, Executive Director of Financial Innovation Now.
The Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and the Department of Homeland Security issued separate statements lauding the recent Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. "The Cyber Information Sharing Act is a strong vote of confidence for information sharing and its importance as a key component of effective cyber risk mitigation," read the FSSCC statement. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh C. Johnson spoke for DHS, pledging the agency's "energy and focus to the national imperative."
On the heels of its October initial public offering, which was noted to be the biggest IPO of 2015 to date, First Data Corp. priced a $3.4 billion aggregate principal amount offering of 7 percent senior notes due 2023. As of this writing, the offering was expected to close on Nov. 18, 2015. The refinancing is expected to result in a reduction of annual interest of $160 million over and above interest savings resulting from the company's IPO.
Risk mitigation provider InAuth Inc. launched its new fraud-prevention network, InExchange. InExchange is designed to solve a critical missing component of device recognition in the industry by providing insight into device reputation. InExchange is an opt-in service, whereby participating businesses across multiple industries share known devices that have been linked with fraudulent activity, as well as those with positive reputations.
IronNet Cybersecurity Inc. raised $32.5 million in Series A funding led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity and joined by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. IronNet will use the capital to continue developing a comprehensive cybersecurity solution for the private sector. IronNet stated its technology enables real-time visualization of a company's entire cyber infrastructure, employs advanced behavioral models and provides elite petabyte-scale analytics.
MasterCard Worldwide introduced a new program that extends the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service and the Digital Enablement Express program to bring MasterCard payments to an array of consumer products across the automotive, fashion, technology and other industries. The program gives consumers the ability to shop using the device or thing that is most convenient to them with the highest level of security available, MasterCard said.
Mobeam Inc. closed its final round of Series B funding to facilitate the large-scale rollout of its technology and speed the company's overall long-term growth. This last round raised an additional $6.2 million led by yet2Ventures, DFJ Athena and other individual investors. Mobeam reported it will use the funding to drive the expansion of its beaming technology for mobile wallets, mobile payments, digital couponing and barcode-based scanning applications.
Mobile POS solution PayAnywhere from North American Bancard, noted that its new near field communication (NFC) reader is now capable of accepting Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. The PayAnywhere Mobile reader, which was launched in August 2015, is the first and only mobile credit card reader on the market to accept all three forms of contactless payments, the company said. The reader is available in Apple stores nationwide and at apple.com.
NOMi received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for new tracking and analysis technologies. The patent, titled Apparatuses and Methods for Disparity-Based Tracking and Analysis of Objects in a Region of Interest, describes technologies available in the Brickstream LIVE sensor and is related to an integrated multilens video platform with integrated software for collecting data. NOMi will use the technology in future products.
The payment processing company known as Payverifi changed its name to PayCertify. The objective was to better reflect the company's services and software, represent its core solutions better to prospective clients and business partners, and showcase a major product expansion PayCertify recently introduced. The new name came with a new website design that includes enhanced features for specific vertical markets.
The Give Back Campaign, a charitable donation program that leverages the power of collective personal spending to help worthy causes, unveiled terminal and mobile applications for processing donation transactions. Participating merchants and businesses now have traditional POS and mobile app methods to accommodate consumers who want their purchases to support their charities of choice, the campaign stated.
Western Union Holdings Inc. initiated a campaign to kick start a chain of good deeds by pledging to help fund projects that strive to make lasting favorable change for individuals and communities. The Western Union Chain of Betters competition will award $1,000 (or local currency equivalent) to the winning candidates. During the first phase, residents from 20 countries will be invited to nominate "betters," providing the nominator remains vested in making the idea happen.
RESEARCHThe Federal Reserve is planning to conduct its sixth triennial study to determine the current aggregate volume and composition of electronic and check payments in the United States. The study builds upon research begun by the Federal Reserve in 2001 to provide the public and the payments industry with estimates and trend information about the evolving nature of the nation's payments system. The public report is expected to be published in December 2016.
A new study by Market Force Information Inc., polling more than 3,800 consumers on banking practices, found that banking app downloads are up and digital wallet growth is sluggish. The findings also indicated physical banking and human touch are still important methods for building loyalty, customers prefer transparency and fairness over satisfaction, and the bank arms of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and U.S. Bancorp are still favored national banks.
Mercator Advisory Group's recent research report titled Small Business Credit Cards: The Key to Richer Customer Relationships untangles the seemingly contradictory state of the U.S. small business credit card market and provides strategic recommendations for market participants moving forward. Other highlights include reviews of small business product offerings, estimates and projections, an analysis of small business needs, and emerging lending alternatives.
According to mobile engagement provider Mobiquity Inc., the industry is on its way to a payment landscape where native operating systems ‒ rather than applications ‒ will define the future of mobile payments. The company released a new infographic detailing the current landscape of mobile payments, what's on the horizon, and how consumers and merchants can leverage this new way to pay.
According to The Electronic Payment System: An Assessment of Benefits for U.S. and State Economies, a study released by the Perryman Group, the electronic payment system has facilitated production and enabled the U.S. economy to grow at a faster pace than it would have otherwise. Researchers measured the effects of the electronic payments system since its inception by performing a simulation of the U.S. economy without electronic payments and comparing it to actual U.S. economic measures as of 2014.
A recent TD Bank survey found that 41 percent of small businesses have now converted to Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) card acceptance. The survey also found an additional 40 percent of small business owners said they plan to switch to EMV soon but indicated they have obstacles with or concerns about making the conversion. The remaining respondents said they either do not plan to install EMV or are not aware of the Oct. 1, 2015, fraud liability shift to parties that are not EMV-compliant.
PARTNERSHIPSBlackhawk Network Inc. partnered with Samsung Pay to enable the integration of gift cards into the Samsung Pay mobile payment solution. By combining Samsung's Magnetic Secure Transmission technology with NFC, Samsung Pay is now compatible with most existing payment terminals, allowing gift card users to make payments from select Samsung phones at many merchant locations where gift cards are accepted, the companies said.
JPMorgan Chase reported that it will launch Chase Pay by mid-2016, and Merchant Customer Exchange – which includes retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., Best Buy Co. Inc. and Shell Oil Co. – will be the Chase Pay premier partner. Chase Pay will be available to Chase card account customers. Gordon Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Consumer & Community Banking at JPMorgan Chase, said, "Chase Pay solves a number of pain points for consumers and merchants. It improves the customer experience and drives down the cost of payments."
CO-OP Financial Services and Share One Inc. partnered to integrate the NewSolutions core processing software and CO-OP electronic payment services for Share One clients. "We look forward to working closely with Share One on integrating Share One's NewSolutions core processing with our own ATM, debit and credit payment services, for back office and member-facing services that are truly best-in-class," said Stan Hollen, President and CEO of CO-OP Financial.
Enacomm Inc. and VoiceVault Inc. integrated technologies and expertise for the provision of Voice e-Signatures. The technology is designed to enable identity verification via a phone or smart device for obtaining and storing customer signatures. Easily integrating into existing interactive voice response systems, Voice e-Signature technology improves the overall customer experience by allowing companies to more efficiently serve customers, the companies stated.
Jopari Solutions Inc., in partnership with ECHO Health Inc., developed Jopari ProPay, a multitiered medical payment product. The product is tailored to the workers' compensation marketplace and allows payers to quickly achieve a high level of conversion to electronic payments, while affording providers the flexibility to receive payments and remittance information in the manner that best suits their business needs, according to Jopari.
MasterCard and Cardlytics Inc. agreed to deliver targeted card-linked services to U.S. banks of all sizes. The new partnership will match Cardlytics' card-linked marketing solutions and advertising expertise with MasterCard's bank partners and its offers and rewards platform. MasterCard will tap into Cardlytics' advertiser network to help its bank partners deliver compelling consumer offers both online and via mobile.
NAB partnered with Poynt Co., and through the alliance, Poynt is using NAB's Velocity gateway to securely process credit card transactions. NAB is also piloting the Poynt terminal solution within its merchant community. "The partnership with Poynt not only offers merchants seamless integration, but a system that is easily configured for a variety of businesses," said Yasser Abou-Nasr, NAB Senior Vice President of Commerce Services.
Ordoro and Square Inc. recently partnered to support multichannel merchants' offline sales. Ordoro's back-office capabilities combined with Square's presence in the POS space create an attractive integration for multichannel retailers, the partners noted.
Commerce platform provider Ecwid is also collaborating with Square to offer retailers the ability to sell anywhere online and keep all channels in sync. The combined solution is designed to enable merchants to import their Square product catalog in one click.
Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and Ingenico Group launched a semi-integrated solution to simplify the EMV certification process for customers. TSYS Class A certified Ingenico Group's new offering designed to enable partners to easily build and deploy secure EMV and NFC solutions. The combined offering provides value-added resellers and integrated software vendors with a simple and secure way to enable EMV payments.
ACQUISITIONSAgora Business Solutions and MerchantSystems.com merged to create Agora Advantage. Agora Advantage seeks to change the way business owners search, negotiate and purchase products for their businesses by saving them time and money with the Agora Merchant Marketplace. This proprietary virtual marketplace delivers rates and terms, negotiated on behalf of small businesses, and has been designed to make services available for lower than retail costs.
Electronic Payments acquired Exatouch Point of Sale, a Payment Application Data Security Standard certified cloud-hybrid POS software system that provides customized solutions to merchants nationwide. Electronic Payments will grow the Exatouch brand and offer its partners the most complete, industry-leading payment technologies. The agreement also complements and expands Electronic Payments' intellectual property portfolio and software capabilities.
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. acquired privately held Digital Dining, a provider of restaurant POS and management systems throughout the United States. Heartland said the acquisition allows it to help restaurants turn POS systems into secure commerce centers while collaborating with payroll, marketing and loyalty programs. Digital Dining offers iOS handheld POS capability, table management, delivery, reservations, labor scheduling, inventory and loyalty programs.
APPOINTMENTSZuora Inc. added two new senior executives to its leadership team. Brent Cromley joined Zuora from Zappos, where he served as Chief Technology Officer. Cromley will head Zuora's engineering team as Senior Vice President of Engineering. Carl Gold was named Zuora's first Chief Data Scientist and will be responsible for expanding and refining the analytics that underpin the company's Insights platform.
ACI Worldwide Inc. appointed Janet O. Estep to its board of directors. Estep serves as President and CEO of NACHA ‒ The Electronic Payments Association. Before joining NACHA, Estep served as Executive Vice President of U.S. Bank's Transaction Services division.
Alpha Card Services appointed David Headley to its management team in the newly created position of Director of Operations. A tenured merchant services leader with a diverse customer service background, Headley began his career at Discover Financial Services in 2004, and in 2006, accepted a position at AmEx, where he trained new hires to effectively manage portfolio accounts.
Nuspay International reported that Jonathan Meyer, an attorney admitted to practice in New York State, the United States Court of International Trade, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, joined the Nuspay Board of Advisors. Meyer brings two decades of legal experience to the board, with specialized knowledge in national security and international trade law.
Lans Holdings Inc. selected Anthony Ribas as its President and Rudy Romeiro as its Chief Operations Officer. Ribas will lead the company in business development, international strategy and the Lans Holdings' partner network. Romeiro will oversee and support infrastructure to assist with client acquisitions. Ribas brings over 15 years of industry experience and Romeiro has extensive expertise in technology applied to business and payment processing. 
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