ANNOUNCEMENTSFor the fifth consecutive year, BlueStar received Elo's Distributor of the Year award. BlueStar stated it is grateful to be recognized by one of the world's most innovative touch screen technology companies. According to Elo, BlueStar excelled throughout Elo's 2020 fiscal year, breaking records and achieving an "impressive sales milestone," and together, the companies outperform in channel-based growth through unique marketing and end-user demand generation programs.
Global Processing Services took home five wins at the 13th annual Emerging Payments Awards. Hosted by comedian Sara Pascoe, with appearances from Elijah Wood, Gloria Gaynor and David Hasselhoff, the event was streamed live to over 1,000 guests from the global payments community. The awards celebrate innovation and collaboration by recognizing companies that have made significant advances in how we pay. GPS stated it was commended on its commitment to the entire fintech industry, having helped customers launch a range of scalable and secure products.
MineralTree, an accounts payable and payments automation solution provider, was named to Deloitte's 2020 Technology Fast 500 for the second consecutive year. The Fast 500 is a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America now in its 26th year. MineralTree is No. 292 on this year's list.
Nacha created a new ACH Rules for Corporates Resource Center dedicated to assisting corporate ACH users. The center is a one-stop hub for corporate end users to keep up with developments to the Nacha Operating Rules and the ACH Network. Among the resources available are end-user briefings on specific Nacha Rules topics, including the upcoming expansion of Same Day ACH hours. The new center is available at www.nacha.org/corporates.
NMI, a payments enablement technology company, heralded the certification of the Verifone UX line of unattended card payment solutions with Chase Paymentech. The certification gives independent software vendors a powerful unattended option for EMV contact- and contactless-based payments in the United States that's essential for card in, card out parking solutions, NMI stated. The Verifone UX available to NMI partners and merchants; additional processor certifications are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021.
RESEARCHA new study from Juniper Research found the total number of mobile money users in emerging markets will exceed 1.2 billion in 2025, up from 980 million in 2020, equating to just under 30 percent of mobile phone users across emerging markets. The report also predicted that domestic P2P and payments to merchants will be increasingly popular in mobile money schemes and will drive growth. Researchers recommended that mobile money providers partner with banks and other financial institutions to increase the sophistication of products offered and take advantage of increasing financial and technological literacy.
In the third quarter of 2020, mobile malware activity increased consistently and significantly, with Asia at the epicenter, according to new data published by Secure-D, Upstream's anti-fraud platform. The data show that 97 percent of all transactions in the region have been flagged and blocked as fraudulent, researchers noted. More than half of the activity blocked was found in Indonesia, where malicious app activity is skyrocketing. The top 10 worst offending apps worldwide for the quarter appear to have a direct link with the Android app store or a specific handset manufacturer, Secure-D added.
The Strawhecker Group and Electronic Transactions Association released a Consumer Holiday Spending Survey report that shows consumers are utilizing different types of payments options as they attempt to shop safely this holiday season. Researchers found that for in-person purchases, over 72 percent of consumers will use electronic payments as their first payment method choice, which includes traditional credit/debit cards, contactless cards, and digital wallets as the top methods; for online purchases, traditional credit/debit cards were cited as consumer's number one choice, followed by one-click payment options and digital wallets.
PARTNERSHIPSEBANX, a Latin American fintech specializing in local payment solutions for global merchants, joined forces with PicPay, a prominent digital wallet provider in Brazil, to offer a new payment option in the country.
International companies that adopt EBANX's solutions to sell in Brazil through digital payment accounts can now offer PicPay as one of its payment options, expanding their Total Addressable Market in the largest economy in Latin America, and giving access to millions of Brazilians to global products and services, according to the partners. PicPay has 34 million users in Brazil and is accepted in over 3 million stores throughout the country.
Payment Alliance International, a provider of ATM portfolio management tools and services, formed a strategic partnership with B4U Financial to better serve liquidity needs of the cryptocurrency market. PAI's nationwide fleet of ATMs will be equipped with BitLoad4U (B4U) capabilities, including the ability to redeem bitcoin for cash at ATMs using any cryptocurrency mobile wallet, the partners stated, adding that B4U Financial's global processing network will be used to manage authorization, clearing and settlement, providing a safe, secure, convenient and reliable way to liquidate bitcoin into fiat currency at ATMs.
The Central Bank of Iceland and SIA, a European hi-tech company in payment services and infrastructures, reported they went live with the new real-time gross settlement system and instant payment platform. CBI can now rely on a more strategic, modern infrastructure for its high- and low-value payment systems, the partners said. CBI manages all interbank payments in Iceland: it currently processes up to 1 million payments with peaks of 160,000 per hour—despite the small population of just over 365,000 inhabitants, the bank noted.
ACQUISITIONPayroc WorldAccess LLC, a merchant acquirer and global payment processing organization, acquired Bluestone Payments LLC. Founded by Linda Rossetti in 2006, Bluestone is an ISO that provides payment programs to merchants through referral relationships in niche markets. Rossetti will remain the president of Bluestone and take on an expanded role as executive vice president, strategic initiatives at Payroc.
APPOINTMENTSThe Electronic Transactions Association hired Max Behlke as director of state government affairs. Behlke will assist the association's government affairs team in representing its payments and fintech members on issues before state legislators and regulators. The ETA advocates before federal and state policymakers for policies that support ongoing innovation in financial services products. Behlke brings to the organization extensive experience on state policy issues having previously worked at the National Conference of State Legislatures developing its policy on state matters, the ETA noted.
Specialized payments platform Paysafe appointed Scot McClintic as senior vice president, iGaming product & strategy. The appointment builds on Paysafe's ongoing commitment to specializing in the fast-growing iGaming and sports betting markets. McClintic is responsible for collaborating closely with Paysafe's iGaming, iLottery and sports betting merchants and partners to further strengthen Paysafe's iGaming product portfolio. McClintic brings to the position over a decade's experience in strategic business development, product ownership and market analysis. His most recent role was chief product officer and general manager at Penn National Gaming's Barstool Sportsbook & iCasino.
Chargebacks911 appointed Jia Min Tan director of business development, APAC, as part of its ongoing expansion in the region. Jia Min's appointment will help to facilitate the rapid growth, as well as being a strategic move aimed at overcoming any language barriers with partners to ensure a truly seamless end-to-end service, the company stated. Jia Min brings a wealth of experience to the role, having worked across the dispute technology, fraud prevention and risk management industries, and a background in pre-transaction risks such as advertising fraud and loyalty membership fraud, the company added. 
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