ANNOUNCEMENTSThe ATM Industry Association launched a global security awards program for the ATM industry. The award categories are ATM Physical Security Excellence, Cash Security Excellence, Cash in Transit Excellence, ATM Cyber Security Excellence, ATM Security Innovation and Next Generation ATM Security. Winners will be recognized at ATMIA's 18th annual security conference in London in June 2018.
Eight Emerging Payments Association members ranked among payments industry innovators on the Payments Power 10 List 2017. Published annually by PayExpo, the list recognizes global leaders and disrupters in payment technology. Topping the list this year were EPA advisory board members Suresh Vaghjiani, Managing Director of Global Processing Services Ltd., and Myles Stephenson, Chief Executive Officer of Modulr.
The Electronic Transactions Association issued a statement regarding the Senate vote on a resolution to disapprove the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's arbitration rule under the Congressional Review Act. "ETA applauds the Senate for using the Congressional Review Act to address the problems with the CFPB's regulations on arbitration clauses," said ETA CEO Jason Oxman. "We thank Congress for stepping in to prevent the detrimental impact this rule would have on consumers and businesses alike."
Newtek Business Services Corp., along with its wholly owned subsidiary Newtek Small Business Finance LLC, maintained its position as the largest nonbank SBA 7(a) lender by dollar volume of approved loans, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. NSBF also ranked seventh as most active SBA 7(a) lender for the same period. In other company news, NSBF confirmed its portfolio company, ADR Partners LLC, dba banc-serv Partners LLC, was served with an FBI search warrant, and the company is cooperating fully with the investigation.
Webb, Klase & Lemond LLC filed a class action lawsuit against payment processor PNC Merchant Services Co. LP alleging PNC maintains a systematic policy of overbilling merchants, not disclosing contract terms, and signing customers by promising low fees or no fees despite knowing the actual fees charged will be much higher. Plaintiffs in the suit seek the return of all amounts paid to PNC that exceeded the fees set forth in their merchant agreements.
Priority Payments East Coast rebranded as Priority Integrated Solutions LLC to better represent its focus and direction, according to the company. Priority specializes in independent service vendor/value added reseller (ISV/VAR) partnerships. "Our goal is to help ISVs and VARs become their own independent sales organizations through superior service and integrated solutions," said Gary Liu, President of ISV/VAR Channel Relations for Priority.
In addition to donating $50,000 to the National Credit Union Foundation for disaster relief, PSCU rallied employees to collect hundreds of pounds of supplies, which were distributed to 10 credit unions in Texas directly impacted by Hurricane Harvey. As a result of the devastation caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria, PSCU also made two additional $20,000 donations to aid the NCUF's efforts and plans to initiate a second employee supply drive.
Cyber risk and response firm NetDiligence named Rob Rosenzweig of Risk Strategies Co. the recipient of the 2017 Toby Merrill Rising Star Award. As Vice President and National Cyber Risk Practice Leader at Risk Strategies, Rosenzweig is responsible for coordinating and growing the company's cyber liability business. The Toby Merrill Award for Excellence is given to a seasoned cyber risk thought leader each June, and the Rising Star Award is awarded to an emerging cyber risk professional each October.
After numerous proceedings and orders, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to add Ohio v. American Express Co. to its docket. The court blog stated the case "has its roots in the credit-card network's 'anti-steering' rules, included as part of its contracts with the merchants who accept AmEx cards." These rules prohibit merchants from showing a preference for other, cheaper credit cards or offering customers discounts or incentives to use those cards.
RESEARCHBillingTree released key findings from its 2017 Financial Services Operations and Technology Survey of large credit unions, banks and auto financiers. A majority of respondents said they now offer a broader range of payment options, with more than half offering web portals, interactive voice response and live agent payment support. The findings sharply contrast with last year's findings, when less than 14 percent of respondents said they provided all three.
Malauzai Software Inc. published its October Monkey Insights report highlighting key trends in Internet and mobile banking usage. The study was based on September 2017 data collected from over 435 banks and credit unions covering 15.5 million logins from 840,000 users. The report conveys trends on metrics such as logins per month, mobile remote deposit capture usage, and an array of customer payment and transfer methods.
NetDiligence issued its seventh annual Cyber Claims Study of losses for data breach events covered by leading cyber liability insurance carriers. The study contrasts and compares cyber claims data aggregated over the last four years, which revealed the aggregated average total breach cost was $394,000, aggregated average payout was $249,000, and average claim for large companies was $3.2 million. The average claim in the financial services sector was $588,000.
According to a study conducted by Pymnts.com and Signifyd that examined more than 5,000 ecommerce merchants in North America, Asia and Europe, account takeover replaced stolen financials as the fastest growing fraud threat for ecommerce websites in 2017. While still representing only a fraction of the volume of stolen financials, in the second quarter of 2017 alone, account takeover fraud rose by 45 percent and resulted in losses of $3.3 billion, according to the study.
PARTNERSHIPSD3 Technology Inc. partnered with Zelle, a person-to-person (P2P) payment network under the auspices of bank-owned Early Warning Services LLC, to enable D3's platform with a direct, application program interface connection to Zelle. The Zelle P2P solution, combined with D3's payment capabilities, will provide a simple way for financial institution customers to send and receive money to others with U.S. bank accounts, the partners noted.
First Data Corp. and UnionPay International partnered to expand UnionPay card acceptance in the United States. The partnership will allow Chinese visitors to
use UnionPay chip credit and debit cards at First Data U.S. merchant client locations. The implementation will eventually be phased in at all 4 million U.S. merchant locations served by First Data.
Harbortouch Payments LLC partnered with Orca Inventory & Ordering to serve restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Through the partnership, Harbortouch will integrate the Orca solution into the company's POS offering, and Harbortouch customers will receive exclusive pricing from Orca. "Orca's robust restaurant inventory management system can add considerable value for our customers," said Brian Jones, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Harbortouch.
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. introduced JHA Enterprise Risk Mitigation Solutions, a single, fully hosted anti-money laundering, fraud identification and analysis solution for regional and community financial institutions. JHA Enterprise is now empowered by analytics leader SAS Institute Inc. to provide its cloud-based analytics solution to U.S. banks and credit unions with less than $30 billion in assets, in addition to Jack Henry core clients, the company noted.
LCG Advisors collaborated with Abacode Cybersecurity to develop a cybersecurity transactional due diligence package built to mitigate lender and investor risk. "Since we're already focused on and imbedded within the transaction space, with this new partnership, we're able to efficiently provide cyber-risk assessments without overly burdening an already complex process," said Brian Smith, Managing Partner at LCG.
NewNet Communication Technologies partnered with Spire Payments Holdings S.a.r.l. at the Money20/20 conference to demonstrate its Secure Transaction Cloud (STC) virtualized payment transaction solution on Spire's POS platform. The cloud-based transaction transport and routing platform utilizes virtual cryptography engines as an alternative to legacy solutions. Additionally, STC can accommodate virtualized secure payment applications that reside in the cloud rather than at end-points, the companies noted.
StayNTouch Inc. recently collaborated on an EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) integration between its Rover property management system and Merchant Link's TransactionLink platform. The EMV integration is expected to provide StayNTouch hotel customers enhanced transaction security by incorporating an additional level of authentication at the POS.
The Clearing House and Mastercard partnered to enable TCH to deliver and manage Mastercard-branded tokens on behalf of banks. The partnership establishes TCH as one of the first Mastercard-certified third-party Token Service Providers to enter the U.S. market, and enables TCH to support current and future token capabilities ranging from mobile payments to remote purchases and Internet-of-Things transactions, the partners stated.
ACQUISITIONSJPMorgan Chase & Co. revealed plans to acquire WePay, which is expected to enable app makers and ISVs to integrate payments into the software commonly used by small businesses. The acquisition, pending approvals and customary closing conditions, demonstrates Chase 's commitment to investing in payments fintech for small business, and follows the firm's recent collaboration with Bill.com to make it easier for business clients to run their businesses, the company noted.
Fintrax Group Holdings Ltd. and Planet Payment Inc. entered a definitive agreement under which Fintrax will acquire Planet Payment for $4.50 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2017. In connection with execution of the agreement, Planet Payment directors, executive officers and certain shareholders entered into support agreements with Fintrax pursuant to which they agreed to tender their shares into Fintrax's offer.
APPOINTMENTSAs part of a PSCU organizational change, Gene Fredriksen transitioned from the role of Chief Information Security Officer to Chief Information Security Strategist. In this newly created role, Fredriksen will report on strategic functions primarily focused on relating PSCU's perspective and stance on cybersecurity to existing clients, prospective clients, consultants in the credit union space, and the industry as a whole.
Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. appointed Chartered Financial Analyst Charles O. Garner as its Chief Financial Officer. Garner succeeds Jerry Ulrich as CFO. Ulrich will serve the company as Chief Administrative Officer until his retirement. Garner, a seasoned executive with experience in both finance and operations, previously served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of Zelis Healthcare Corp.
Sage Payment Solutions appointed Joe Kaplan as Chief Executive Officer. In this role, Kaplan intends to magnify the company's growth strategy through innovative partnerships and purposeful capabilities acquisitions. Kaplan previously held positions as founder of Superior Financial Group, President of Innovative Merchant Solutions, President and CEO of Superior Bankcard Service, and co-founder and President of Consumer Fraud Protection.
Matthew Maguire joined CO-OP Financial Services as Chief Data Officer. In addition to advancing the firm's technology goals, Maguire will be tasked with helping the credit unions that are part of the CO-OP ecosystem make greater use of their data with emerging technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. Maguire joins CO-OP from Bank of America where he spent more than 10 years honing his global technology experience. 
The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information.
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
Prev Next
