More than 700 payments industry attendees convened July 16 to 18, 2019, at Chicago’s Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel for the 17th anniversary of the Midwest Acquirers Association Conference. A festive opening night party filled with games and cotton candy reflected a buoyant industry that continually adapts to changing trends in consumer behavior, regulatory initiatives and emerging technologies. Keynote speakers and panelists examined integrated payments from multiple perspectives, from the technical aspects of software to strategic viewpoints and business models to the financial rewards of working with independent software vendors.

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The Federal Trade Commission slapped social media giant Facebook with a huge fine as part of a long-running investigation into the company’s privacy practices. According to reports in several media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, the FTC voted to approve a $5 billion settlement of claims arising from the so-called Cambridge Analytica scandal. The settlement, which would be the largest ever involving the FTC, still must be approved by the Department of Justice, the reports noted. The FTC declined to respond to The Green Sheet’s request for confirmation. But Facebook made clear in an earnings report earlier this year that it expected the FTC’s investigation would result in a $3 billion to $5 billion hit.

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The Midwest Acquirers Association (MWAA) will host its 17th annual conference July 17-18, 2019, at Chicago’s Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel. This year’s conference will highlight payments industry leaders, technology, products and services in exhibits, workshops and presentations. The not-for-profit trade association remains committed to educating payments professionals by keeping them up to date on emerging trends in the ever-changing payments ecosystem, event organizers stated.

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Trustwave, a managed security service provider, disclosed July 11, 2019, that it has completed a six-month remediation process with Uniguest, following the discovery of a software flaw in one of the company's older kiosks. Originally identified by Adrian Pruteanu, senior security researcher at Trustwave SpiderLabs, during routine penetration testing, the vulnerability had the potential to expose guest information and log-in credentials to hackers, if left untreated. In a July 11 blog post titled, "Hardcoded Credentials in Uniguest Kiosk Software lead to API Compromise," Pruteanu observed that Uniguest deploys self-attended solutions in hotel lobbies across North America. The machines are centrally managed and run a locked-down version of Windows that restricts users to basic tasks like web browsing and printing boarding passes.

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Aite Group LLC reported it will formally recognize payments industry innovators this year. Ceremonies include the August 2019 digital wallet innovation awards and December 2019 Impact Innovation Awards for Cash Management and Payments. Representatives from the global research and advisory firm said the events will honor market leaders impacting the future of commerce and banking. Boston-based Aite derived its name from the Japanese word "Aite" (eye-tay), meaning a complementary relationship between counterparts that facilitates balance and success.

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The Retail Industry Leaders Association, a trade group representing some of the nation’s largest retailers, including Walmart, wants the Federal Trade Commission to take a closer look at how big tech platforms, like Amazon, Facebook and Google, influence consumer purchasing behavior, and by extension, competition in retailing. In a detailed letter to the FTC, the RILA also pushed for government action to compel greater competition in credit and debit card acquiring. Think in terms of interchange pricing and honor-all-cards requirements.

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Installment lending is enjoying a renaissance, fueled in part by consumer pushback over the high cost of credit card purchasing. Visa and Mastercard are angling to support these types of loans, which are variously described as point-of-purchase financing and point-of-sale installment loans. So, too, are Square and a handful of other financial technology firms. Affirm, a fintech founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, was reported to have processed more than $2 billion in POS installment loans for customers of 128 stores and ecommerce sites in 2018. In February 2019, Affirm partnered with Walmart to support POS installment loans on purchases ranging from $150 to $2,000 at nearly 4,000 Walmart Supercenters nationwide.

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