ANNOUNCEMENTSErnst & Young LLP named Boulevard co-founder and CEO Matt Danna an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Greater Los Angeles award winner. The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. Danna was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous award winners, leading CEOs, investors and other regional business leaders. The candidates were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.
"Entrepreneurship is truly a team sport and this award belongs to the entire Boulevard team, without whose hard work and dedication none of this would be possible," Danna said. "Most of all though, this award is a testament to our customers and their perseverance." Boulevard provides a client experience platform for appointment-based, self-care businesses.
Jack Henry launched Payrailz Fraud Monitor, a cloud-native, AI-based feature of the Payrailz Digital Payments Platform that provides real-time fraud detection when payment transactions are initiated. Jack Henry noted this highly customizable, proprietary feature supports person-to-person (P2P) payments, consumer and business bill payments, and account-to-account (A2A) outbound external transfers powered by the Payrailz Digital Payments Platform.
The fraud monitor leverages AI and machine learning to simultaneously detect and weigh multiple fraud attributes and indicators, including known and previously unknown fraud instances and patterns, to generate an aggregated, actionable score as each payment transaction is scheduled; financial institutions can configure score ranges and other thresholds based on their unique risk tolerance, Jack Henry added.
North American Bancard LLC, a U.S.-based provider of fintech solutions, was honored by The Strawhecker Group in its 2023 Best of Breed API Awards. The annual Best of Breed API Report, powered by TSG's Global Experience Monitoring platform, ranks payment gateways' overall API experience across two key assessments to provide insights and benchmarks on their developer integration experience.
NAB received first place in the category API Set: Specifications for its exceptional API documentation, which offers developers the smoothest and most seamless initial experience compared to other API offerings, according to TSG. Additionally, NAB was runner-up in the Developer Roadmap and Developer Roadmap: Experience categories. "We are honored that we have again received recognition for our industry-leading product that addresses the needs of the developer community," said Rezart Uruci, vice president of Strategic Partnerships at NAB.
Law firm Shipkevich PLLC heralded the launch of its legal database, Compliance Journal, stating it is a state-of-the-art digital platform that empowers subscribers with easy access to a wealth of legal and regulatory information, fostering enhanced efficiency and informed decision-making.
With a user-friendly interface, clients and subscribers can effortlessly navigate through a vast collection of regulatory statutes, enforcement actions and agency advisory opinions, tailored specifically to regulated industries such as debt relief, credit repair, credit counseling, loan brokerage, money transmission, and cryptocurrency, Shipkevich stated. Its key features include a comprehensive legal database, legislative tracker, timely digest of news and analysis, educational resources and powerful research capabilities, the firm noted.
RESEARCHAn annual report from Arizent, parent company of American Banker, examines the progress and priorities of digitally driven initiatives at financial institutions. The research shows that tech spending will remain a priority, even amid inflation and a possible recession, with a key focus on cybersecurity, Arizent pointed out. According to the survey, identifying and dealing with cybersecurity threats, including fraud, ranks first among all challenges financial institutions face in advancing their digital initiatives.
Nearly 90 percent of all respondents classify threats from cybersecurity as a "moderate" or "significant challenge." Not one of the professionals surveyed says it isn't a problem. Digital initiatives are on the minds of many banking executives, with 42 percent of respondents expecting technology spending to increase by at least 10 percent over the next 12 months.
Consumer spending on travel grew 52 percent in 2022, according to new research conducted on behalf of European paytech Nexi. The European survey of over 10,000 consumers also revealed that more than two-thirds of consumers prefer to buy from local shops online, rather than shopping with foreign marketplaces. Nexi's latest ecommerce report reveals a total indicative travel spend of over $191 billion in 2022, including $57 billion on hotels, almost $49 billion on flights and over $36 billion on charter and package trips.
The travel sector accounted for 32 percent of overall ecommerce spending among the countries surveyed (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland), with travelers in Italy and Germany accounting for 70 percent of the total spend. However, Austria and Finland saw the largest year-on-year increases, with consumers indicating spending levels over 110 percent higher than the previous year.
With artificial intelligence (AI) being one of the most talked about technologies of 2023, consumers are gradually growing their understanding of its role in the payments process. Research among more than 14,000 consumers commissioned by global payments platform Paysafe highlights the potential for the technology in payments if the current lack of consumer awareness and comfort are addressed. At present, Paysafe noted, just 14 percent of consumers globally say they are using AI-driven payments technology, with the remaining 86 percent expressing reservations about the use of AI.
While 10 percent expressed willingness to use AI-driven payments in the next two years, if they became more established, 17 percent are not comfortable using AI-driven payments technology at all, researched stated, adding that 24 percent of respondents cite lack of knowledge around safeguards in place to reassure them that data isn't being misused.
PARTNERSHIPSFactor4 LLC, a provider of gift card and loyalty solutions, integrated its gift card and loyalty program with TakeOut7, an all-in-one digital platform that provides online ordering, delivery and marketing for restaurants.
This integration enables TakeOut7 to expand omnichannel solutions for its restaurant partners especially small to midsize franchise groups, the partners stated, adding that it allows all restaurants to seamlessly process gift card and loyalty transactions in-store, online and via mobile devices directly on the TakeOut7 platform. In addition, Factor4's pooling services allow multi-location restaurants to seamlessly reconcile gift card funds and loyalty points, they noted.
Fintech company Mozrt formed a partnership with Visa to implement Visa B2B Connect, Visa's multilateral B2B cross-border payments network designed to facilitate transactions from an originating financial institution (FI) directly to the beneficiary FI. This collaboration advances the financial technology landscape by connecting Visa's advanced capabilities with FIs, unlocking new possibilities for seamless transactions and enhanced customer experiences, Mozrt stated.
For FIs integrated to Visa B2B Connect, Mozrt acts as a technology partner, enabling them to leverage Visa's cutting-edge technology and services, Mozrt added, noting that as a bridge between Visa and FIs in the Mozrt network, Mozrt facilitates intelligent routing and simplifies cross-border B2B payments for businesses and corporations.
Global commerce company Shopify approved real-time payments gateway Volt as a global open banking partner. Merchants across Europe, the UK and Brazil that have integrated Shopify can offer Volt's Pay by Bank solution at checkout, enabling their customers to initiate real-time account-to-account payments – with funds settling near instantly, Volt stated.
The solution will be made available to Shopify merchants in additional countries over the coming months, starting with Australia in the fourth quarter of 2023. Shopify, which serves millions of active merchants across 175 countries, began seeking open banking partners amid growing demand from merchants for faster, safer and more cost-effective payments, the partners noted.
ACQUISITIONSFortis, a payment and commerce technology provider for software providers, marketplaces and scaling businesses, acquired embedded payments provider SmartPay and rolled out enhanced funding and settlement capabilities to meet rising demands from its clients. SmartPay, which has strong partnerships in the enterprise software and ERP ecosystems, was founded to bring enhanced technology solutions to the small business community, and brings its exceptional team, productive customer relationships, and rich capabilities to the company, Fortis stated.
SmartPay founders and former managing partners Mike Sheffey and Nate Schloss will join the Fortis leadership team as part of the acquisition. MAPP Advisors acted as advisers to SmartPay for the transaction. SmartPay also rolled out new settlement and funding capabilities and expanded into Canada.
Socure, the provider of digital identity verification solutions, said it acquired Berbix, a San Francisco-based startup that developed a high-accuracy document verification solution with a patent-pending forensics engine able to detect spoofed IDs—including AI-generated fakes—that are visually indistinguishable to the human eye.
The approximately $70 million cash and stock transaction marks the first acquisition for Socure. With the integration of Berbix's technology complete, Socure also launched its Predictive Document Verification (DocV) 3.0 solution, which, according to the company, sets a new bar in accuracy, speed, user experience, and fraud reduction, far outpacing market competitors. Online ID verification has become more critical than ever as consumers have taken the most essential—and risky—facets of their personal and work lives online, Socure added.
APPOINTMENTSAs part of its ambitious growth plans and ongoing global hiring process, data management product company Intix appointed Kurt Florus as the company's new chief technology officer. Before joining Intix, Florus held leadership positions in biotech, technology and fintech companies. Most recently, served as the CTO and a board member at Bluebee, a cloud-based platform for genetic information management.
During this period, he was a major factor in the company's growth and played a pivotal role in its successful acquisition by Illumina in 2020, Intix noted. Previously, Florus lent his expertise to such companies as Swift, FIS (Sungard), Trax and Capco. In his new role, Intix stated, Kurt will leverage his knowledge and experience to support Intix's growth plans, developing, refining and improving the company's advanced data platform, as well as help Intix meet its goal of streamlining transaction processes while ensuring compliance and audit readiness among businesses.
Chargebacks911 and Fi911, a provider of chargeback management technology, appointed Bill Oglesby as vice president of partnerships. In this role, Oglesby will be responsible for expanding Chargebacks911's network of strategic partners, fostering relationships with leading industry players and spearheading collaborative initiatives to tackle the challenges of chargeback fraud and payment disputes.
Oglesby joins Chargebacks911 with a track record of building and managing partner teams, and having held senior leadership positions in the payments industry, the company stated. Before joining Chargebacks911, Oglesby served as vice president of channel and partnerships at NeuroID, as well as vice president of partner success for Midigator. At the latter, he cultivated a network of global partners and led an indirect distribution team whose efforts ultimately resulted in a major acquisition. 
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
