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ANNOUNCEMENTSThe ATM Industry Association recently honored three individuals for outstanding service to the industry. Recipients included Elizabeth Bohlen, Senior Vice President, Chief Payments Officer at Pueblo Bank & Trust; Jack Milford Ford, Attorney at Law; and Eric de Putter, Managing Partner, Payment Redesign. "I'd like to thank these winners for their positive contribution to the continued up-building of the ATM industry," ATMIA Chief Executive Officer Mike Lee stated.
Comdata Inc. is providing new payment capabilities for CAT Scale transactions within the truck scale network's Weigh My Truck mobile app. The new solution combines one of the most widely accepted payment solutions in the fleet industry with the power of the largest scale network, allowing drivers to quickly stop, weigh and pay without ever having to leave their cabs. Drivers can complete the process and be back on the road in minutes, Comdata said.
The Electronic Transactions Association is hosting a shark tank-style competition and will award $25,000 to the startup company demonstrating the best payments innovation. The top 10 Payments Pitch-Off competitors, as selected by a leading group of venture capital judges, will be invited to Las Vegas to demonstrate their innovation live on the Transact 16 show floor from April 19 to 21, 2016. One inspiring winner will be selected as the E-Pay Innovation Award winner.
In addition, the ETA partnered with Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance to launch the Security Tech Zone at Transact 16. The alliance is a consortium of security and technology companies and consumer services providers promoting innovative, standards-based ways to authenticate consumers online. The Security Tech Zone will feature FIDO Alliance member organizations demonstrating products that incorporate the latest advancements in FIDO-enabled security and authentication.
Transaction laundering detection and prevention company EverCompliant Ltd. is expanding its U.S. sales team with the opening of a new office in New York City. The office will be led by Daniel Klein serving as Chief Operating Officer. EverCompliant said that while its portfolio increases, the new office will allow the company to meet demand from a growing North American customer base and to help drive growth for the company's solutions across the region.
European business-to-consumer parcel shop network Hermes Europe GmbH expanded its retail supply services to the U.S. e-commerce market. Hermes said its BorderGuru offers U.S. retailers integrated logistics and e-commerce solutions and an efficient, cost-effective means to sell and deliver goods worldwide. With BorderGuru, retailers have access to full-service, global e-commerce solutions such as information technology and online store software, scalable warehousing and fulfillment return.
Payscape is an Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Top Workplace for 2016. The survey, conducted by WorkplaceDynamics LLP, based results on employee responses. The award honored Payscape's work hard/play hard culture, encouragement of career development and rewards for strong work ethics, leadership and volunteer contributions.
To advance use of the federal government's National Institute of Standards and Technology and other authentication standards, the Smart Card Alliance updated its training programs and expanded the programs available at its training facility based in the Washington, D.C. area. In support, the Alliance developed and now offers a professional training and certification program called the Certified Smart Card Industry Professional/Government program.
Thomas Stout, Alpha Card Services' Chief Technology Officer, received a 2016 SmartCEO Executive Management Award (EMA). The EMA program recognizes honorees for their leadership and accomplishments. "We are extremely proud of Tom," said Lazaros Kalemis, founder and CEO of Alpha Card Services. "He takes a consultative approach with the people that report to him, mentoring them so they can be successful in their roles."
Swipely Inc. just rebranded to Upserve, stating that its new name was inspired by the energy and passion restaurateurs have for their guests, staff and food. The new brand was launched in tandem with new mobile features for restaurants. Upserve Mobile for iOS is available now in the App Store; other features will be available soon.
Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) was recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as a 2016 World's Most Ethical Company. 2016 marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of Ethisphere and the World's Most Ethical Companies designation. This is the fourth time in the last five years that TSYS has been recognized in this regard, which underscores its commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices.
RESEARCHAccording to a new white paper from Boston Retail Partners entitled Beyond EMV: Best Practices for Payment Security, there is no single strategy that can entirely eliminate the risk of a data breach. In the paper, BRP contends that while EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) has received most of the attention lately, there are other security strategies that play a much greater role in protecting sensitive payment card and personal information.
Kount Inc. released a guide providing the latest fraud schemes and trends. As seen by the expansion of digital hacking and the millions of compromised accounts, fraud can be likened to a not-so-silent disease infecting digitally housed information everywhere. In the guide, Kount identified five top terms that are essential to know, as they encompass some of the most serious and important developments in the fraud space today.
The recent Mercator Advisory Group report titled Payroll Cards in the United States: A Balancing Act for Providers provides an analysis of the payroll card market that includes its size, descriptions of industry players, and discussions of the stakeholders. The forecast report identifies demographics of payroll card users and includes the results of interviews with payroll card buyers to show what they look for when considering payroll card programs.
According to a new study and white paper titled New Financial Reality: The Rise of Non-Traditional Wage Management by The Center for Generational Kinetics and Global Cash Card, roughly 5 million millennials do not have checking accounts. The largest generation in the American workforce, millennials favor unconventional banking options more than other generations do. Researchers found the main reason for this is distrust in banks, cited by 48 percent of respondents.
Visa Inc. released results of a 2016 study conducted by Moody's Analytics studying the impact of electronic payments on economic growth across 70 countries between 2011 and 2015. The Visa-commissioned study found that increased use of electronic payment products, including credit, debit and prepaid cards, added $296 billion to the gross domestic product, while raising household consumption of goods and services by an average of 0.18 percent per year.
PARTNERSHIPSThe New York State Restaurant Association selected Bizfi as the exclusive financial provider for its members. Bizfi stated that its platform now enables NYSRA members to access multiple types of funding including equipment, invoice, franchise and medium- and short-term financing; lines of credit, and long-term loans from more than 45 partners online through the Bizfi marketplace on the NYSRA website.
CardFlight Inc. formed an integration with Stripe to empower developers to accept EMV chip card payments from within their own mobile applications. As part of the integration, CardFlight will offer mobile card readers that support EMV chip card and mag stripe payments to Stripe merchants and developers. The offering includes software developer kits for iOS and Android, allowing mobile app developers to quickly integrate card present payments, the companies stated.
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. was chosen by America's Best 401k to provide payroll, payment processing and lending solutions for the organization's small and midsize business clients. Heartland said it would add America's Best 401k solutions to its suite of payroll services and offer them to mutual payroll clients along with all-inclusive pricing guaranteed for three years.
IdentityMind Global partnered with ONPEX to offer mutual clients of the two companies a single integration to manage credit card payments, fraud prevention, risk management and anti-money laundering compliance. The solution combines card processing with alternative payment methods on one omnichannel platform-as-a-service and helps accelerate international expansion and grow businesses, the companies said.
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. and its JHA Payment Solutions group partnered with The Clearing House to expand the scope of U.S. financial institutions equipped to send and receive new real-time transactions. In partnering with JHA Payment Solutions, TCH will greatly expand its new real-time payment system's reach and advance the goal of real-time payment ubiquity – a desired outcome the Federal Reserve has identified for an enhanced U.S. payments system, the companies said.
JoinGo partnered with mobileStorm Inc. to provide joint clients with a unified omnichannel, in-app messaging solution that will deliver an enhanced user experience for casino players. By integrating mobileStorm's MXM platform with JoinGo's app framework, players will be able to sign up for texts and emails, receive push notifications and view all valid offers directly through the casino's app, according to the partners.
PayStand Inc. reported that One Up is adding an online payments service powered by PayStand to its suite of services. The new offering enables One Up's business users to accept online payments from their customers directly from the One Up application. The payment solution helps businesses to get paid faster and at the lowest possible cost, making One Up an even more vital and valuable tool for small businesses, One Up said.
Planet Payment Inc. formed an agreement with Visa Inc. to deliver a feature-rich and easy-to-deploy payment processing solution to acquirers and merchants across the globe. As part of the agreement, Visa will offer Planet Payment's global processing platform to support a back-end settlement solution for acquirers and merchants. The joint initiative delivers a quick-to-market solution for acquirers and merchants with minimal changes to existing processing systems, the companies stated.
Sage and eSUB Construction Software partnered to offer solutions in accounting and cloud-based project management for specialty contractors. Through the integration, information such as current job costs, committed costs, and change orders will be available in real time and readily accessed anywhere. According to the companies, this will enable project managers to more tightly manage project costs. The integration is available for both Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate and Sage 100 Contractor.
TransFirst and small business funding provider Benetrends Financial created a strategic sales partnership. Under the terms of their multiyear agreement, TransFirst's full suite of payment processing solutions will be made available to Benetrends' clients. TransFirst noted the solutions will include credit and debit card, mobile, and automated clearinghouse payments; recurring billing; and Transaction Express, TransFirst's web-based electronic payment gateway.
YapStone Inc. formed a partnship with AssociationVoice LLC under which YapStone will power payments for AssociationVoice customers through DuesPayment, the YapStone proprietary online payment solution for homeowners' associations. AssociationVoice empowers management companies to create a professional web presence. The integration with DuesPayment will give homeowners' association property managers and homeowners access to a convenient and secure online payment solution, according to YapStone.
ACQUISITIONSFTS Holding Corp, the parent company of CardConnect LLC, and FinTech Acquisition Corp. (FNTC) entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby FNTC will acquire CardConnect. The merged company will be named CardConnect Corp. and will apply to continue the listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol CCN. Post transaction, the CardConnect management team will continue to lead the company, the companies stated.
DigitalTown Inc. acquired Seattle-based Cloud.Market, an e-commerce technology platform founded by Chris Maxwell. DigitalTown and Cloud.Market began partnering on technology integration in January 2016. On March 4, following a successful technology integration, the Board of Directors unanimously approved DigitalTown's acquisition of Cloud.Market. A purchase and sale agreement was executed on March 9.
SVM LP acquired 1to1 Card of Woodridge, Ill. 1to1 Card is a prepaid card management services provider for multiple payment products, including incentive, loyalty and promotional cards; rebates; pay cards; and general-purpose reloadable cards. SVM's acquisition of 1to1 Card will enhance its extensive incentive business and bring a host of new products, services and expertise to its business-to-business customer network, SVM stated.
APPOINTMENTSPrepaid and payments network Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. appointed Anil D. Aggarwal to its board of directors. He was also appointed a member of Blackhawk's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. "Anil is an early pioneer in financial technology and payments innovation," said Talbott Roche, Blackhawk Network President and CEO. "His proven experience as a startup tech entrepreneur, venture capital investor, executive at Google, and as an industry builder with Money20/20 and Shoptalk enable him to bring valuable industry and business insights to Blackhawk's board of directors."
TSYS hired Pamela A. Joseph as the company's President and Chief Operating Officer, effective May 1. In addition to joining the executive leadership team, Joseph has also been elected as a member of the TSYS board of directors. Previously, Joseph served as Vice Chairman of U.S. Bancorp's payment services division and Chairman and CEO of Elavon Inc.
Allan Lacoste joined Total Merchant Services Inc. as its new Director of ISO. Lacoste is responsible for managing the overall growth of the company's ISO and Sales Partner Channel. With more than 20 years' experience in the payment processing industry, Lacoste brings diverse expertise and an innovative mindset to TMS. Most recently, Lacoste was the CEO of a large TMS sales partner, where he originated, managed and serviced thousands of new merchant accounts, TMS noted.
Cayan LLC tapped Chris Menard as its Chief Financial Officer. Menard will be responsible for overseeing the organization's finance and accounting functions, as well as human resources and corporate development. Prior to joining Cayan, Menard held multiple executive level financial positions at some of Boston's most prominent technology companies, including Bit9 and Brightcove.
Michael Petitti is Trustwave Holdings Inc.'s new Senior Vice President of Global Alliances. In this role, Petitti is responsible for global alliance partnerships and payment services programs, payment card industry relationships, and compliance and payment services strategy. "I look forward to working with our alliance partners and the industry as they shift to a security-centric model for constant, cost-effective protection beyond basic compliance requirements," Petitti said. 
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