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IndustryUpdate
Kiana honored by startup accelerator PAI was one of only five companies named in the large
employer category. "Our team brings energy and com-
Location-based analytics company Kiana Analytics Inc. mitment to what they do each and every day, and it's
was named by startup accelerator Plug and Play Tech that passion that drives our business forward," said John
Center as the Hottest Company for July 2016. The award J. Leehy III, President and Chief Executive Officer of PAI.
recognizes Kiana's rapid company growth. The selection
for Hottest Company is based on growth, experience, SBA increases technology coalition
leadership and execution, as well as relevance for high-
demand applications that leverage advancements in The U.S. Small Business Administration added 11 new
mobile, Internet and machine learning, the center noted. members to its Small Business Technology Coalition:
Bench, Canvas Solutions Inc., Dash Data Inc., Google
Surge in Mastercard chip card penetration Inc., Gusto, Intuit Inc., LinkedIn, Paychex Inc., Square
Inc., Thumbtack Inc. and Yelp Inc.
According to Mastercard, 80 percent of its U.S. consumer
credit cards now have EMV (Europay, Mastercard and The coalition stated, "Technology plays a central role in
Visa) chips, representing an 88 percent increase in adop- how businesses today start, operate and grow. Yet the
tion since the October 2015 EMV liability shift. The com- latest research shows that more than half do not have
pany also counted 1.7 million chip-active merchant loca- a website, measure the results of their marketing or
tions on its network, representing nearly 30 percent of have a social media account. Only about half use digital
the U.S. merchant population and a 374 percent increase tools to help with their business accounting." Thus, the
in chip terminal adoption since the October deadline. organization is committed to helping small businesses
leverage technology as a core driver of growth and dif-
Mastercard also reported that, in terms of dollars, coun- ferentiation.
terfeit fraud is down more than 60 percent at its top five
EMV-enabled merchants. "Mastercard has helped over The new partners "play a vital role as we work to educate
150 countries adopt EMV and, time and again, we've entrepreneurs on the range of resources and technology
seen the same result: significant reductions in counter- available to help them connect to customers, scale and
feit card fraud," said Chiro Aikat, Senior Vice President conduct business safely anywhere in the world," said
of Product Delivery – EMV for Mastercard. "The U.S. is SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.
one of the most complex markets in the world and great
progress has been made in securing our payments eco- Vantiv honored with award of excellence
system in a short amount of time."
Vantiv Integrated Payments, a division of Vantiv
NAC asks Visa to rescind new fee Inc., was awarded the Vendor Award of Excellence
in Electronic Payments at the recent Retail Solutions
The National ATM Council Inc., a not-for-profit trade Providers Association RetailNOW tradeshow. "This
association representing the U.S. independent ATM sec- honor reflects the commitment to, and value of the
tor, sent an open letter to Visa Inc. requesting that the partnerships we have with the integrated point of sale
company rescind, or make optional, its recently intro- ecosystem of software developers and resellers," said
duced ATM Locator Fee for U.S. retail ATM operators. Matt Taylor, Group President of Integrated Payments
NAC's open letter pointed out that Visa's ATM Locator and Emerging Channels at Vantiv.
is not a new service and no charge has previously been
imposed upon ATM operators. Influx of tech, FI clients on Visa Direct
The new fee charges retail ATM owners to include their Visa Inc. reported that Early Warning Services LLC,
ATMs on Visa's ATM Locator website. This is whether Fiserv Inc. and PayPal Inc. joined a growing list of com-
or not the ATM owners want their terminals listed. panies using Visa Direct, which enables consumers to
Visa cardholders can use the locator service to find transfer funds from a card, bank account or from cash
conveniently located ATMs where they conduct their directly to eligible Visa credit, debit and reloadable pre-
transactions, and NAC feels that Visa or its card-issuing paid accounts. Together, these partnerships represent
banks should pay for the service. NAC's open letter also significant progress in advancing the Federal Reserve's
pointed out that other networks also provide ATM loca- stated goal to bring faster payments to consumers in the
tor services that are similar to Visa's with no charges to United States, Visa noted, adding that the Visa Direct
U.S. retail ATM operators. platform is available in more than 200 markets world-
wide and can be potentially used to reach over 3 billion
PAI recognized as outstanding employer consumer card accounts.
Payment Alliance International was honored for the 17
second consecutive year by Louisville Business First as
one of the best places to work in the Louisville, Ky, area.
