The Midwest Acquirers Association held its 16th annual conference July 25 to 26, 2018, at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. In his opening comments, MWAA President Rod Katzfey thanked attendees, exhibitors and sponsors for their continuing support of the nonprofit, no-membership trade association. He said MWAA remains committed to educating payment professionals to keep them up-to-date in the ever-changing payments sphere. "Where do you fit in payments?" was the theme of this year's show, which featured an eclectic agenda reflecting the industry's transformational journey from closed-end, proprietary systems to cloud-based, inter-operational platforms.

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Industry veteran Joe Kaplan unexpectedly passed away this morning. Kaplan, CEO of Paya, had been vacationing in Bermuda with his family at the time of his passing, according to Paya President Greg Cohen. "The entire Paya family mourns this loss," Cohen said in a statement emailed to colleagues and partners. "Joe made an incredible mark on the payments industry and his energy, passion, innovation and leadership will be greatly missed."

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MyPINPad is readying a new POS authentication solution that eliminates complexities around supporting PIN-authenticated payments using off-the-shelf mobile devices loaded with mPOS apps. Open mPOS is a "fully certified PIN on Mobile (PoM) solution," the London-based company said in a press release. The new solution allows acquirers, ISOs and other payment services providers, as well as merchants, to handle PIN payments initiated in face-to-face environments using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) mobile devices. And to do so without first going through certification of compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards. "The removal of complexity and certification hurdles enables all merchants to deploy a PoM solution simply and quickly," the company stated.

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Merchants who filed a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo & Co. will have their day in court. The U.S. Eastern District Court of New York struck down the defendant's motion to dismiss the case on July 25, 2018, finding plaintiffs' claims to be credible. Initially filed Aug. 4, 2017, Patti's Pitas LLC and Queen City Tours v. Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC, cites lack of transparency and unfair fee structures as causes of action. In his decision, Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown wrote, "Upon review of all of the documents submitted and arguments made at oral argument, it appears, on balance, that plaintiffs have raised sufficient allegations to overcome, at least as to certain representative plaintiffs, the issues raised on this motion."

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Payments analysts are discussing the imminent demise of Snapcash, a mobile payment scheme that facilitates peer-to-peer payments within the Snapcash app. The service will be shuttered on Aug. 30, 2018, according to Snapchat representatives. Rachel Huber, analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, said she was unsurprised by the developments. “In our mobile #P2P scorecard, Snapcash was consistently behind top apps such as #Venmo and #GooglePay,” she stated in a July 23, 2018, tweet.

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Fingerprint authentication. Apple began the trend with Touch ID, a fingerprint scanner it introduced as an iPhone feature in 2013. The convenience and security of fingerprints as identity authentication tools caught on fast with phone manufacturers, and most recent models of smartphones incorporate the next-generation of technology: fingerprint sensors. Now fingerprint sensors are coming to bankcards. Mastercard got the ball rolling in 2017 with a successful test of fingerprint verification for in-store card purchases at a South African grocery chain. And on July 9, 2018, Mastercard confirmed reporting by business news channel CNBC that it is in negotiations with several U.K. banks about issuing credit and debit cards that incorporate fingerprint sensors.

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New research on data breaches highlights tangible and intangible impacts on affected organizations. Sponsored by IBM Security and conducted by Ponemon Institute, the study cites remedial, attritional and reputational costs and damages. Wendi Whitmore, global lead for IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services, said "mega breach" reportage typically covers quantifiable data, such as number of records stolen and aggregated damages, while leaving out other issues. As a result, accounting may be skewed or incomplete, she noted.

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Organizers of the16th annual Midwest Acquirers Association conference are bringing the event back to the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile July 25 and 26, 2018. This year’s theme is “Where do you fit in payments?” And the schedule, which includes speeches, educational sessions, networking with vendors and attendees, awards ceremonies and more, promises to deliver on that question.

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Co-Op Financial Services, a payments and financial technology company focused on credit union success, added cardless ATM transactions to its suite of digital banking and payment solutions. The objective, Co-Op stated, is to meet digital consumer expectations and to enhance security. The new Cardless Cash Access allows members to withdraw cash faster and more securely at the ATM by using their phones, rather than a plastic card, to initiate and complete a transaction, the company said, adding that this makes it the first credit union fintech provider to offer cardless cash access as a part of ATM network and terminal driving services.

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Mid-July has traditionally been a slow time for retailers, but Amazon changed all that, borrowing a page from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. with an annual one-day event designed to blow up ecommerce. Last year, Alibaba Group netted $25.3 billion in gross sales on Singles Day, an achievement that the company’s CEO Daniel Zhang described as more than just a sales figure. “It represents the aspiration for quality consumption of the Chinese consumer, and it reflects how merchants and consumers alike have now fully embraced the integration of online and offline retail,” he stated in a November 2017 interview with Retail Tech Innovation editors.

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Payments analysts have reported widescale adoption of biometric technologies and expect the trend to continue. Analysis by Acuity Market Intelligence predicts mobile biometrics will process more than 1 trillion transactions per year by 2022, driven by a global deployment of 5.5 billion biometric devices. The recently released Global Biometrics and Mobility Report: The Convergence of Commerce and Privacy additionally noted consumer privacy protections, such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, are expected to influence the design and development of POS devices.

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Growing evidence suggests that evolving guest expectations and digital technologies are driving major transformation in the restaurant industry. With 30 percent of restaurant revenues expected to come from digital sales channels by 2025, the race is on to embed digital technology across the entire dining journey, according to BRP Consulting. "As guest expectations continue to rise, restaurants must transform their business with new technologies to make the dining experience more seamless and frictionless," said Scott Langdoc, senior vice president and practice lead at BRP, adding that guests are seeking dining experiences that empower them and offer convenience.

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Macy's Inc. revealed on July 2, 2018, that a security data breach may have affected shoppers on its ecommerce sites between April 26 and June 12, 2018. Macy's spokesperson Blair Rosenberg said the event may have compromised "a small number of our customers at macys.com and bloomingdales.com." Rosenberg stated that Macy's has taken additional security measures and contacted potentially impacted customers following the attack. Security analysts criticized Macy's for failing to adequately protect consumer data and privacy, calling the company's remedial measures "too little, too late." John Gunn, chief marketing officer at security and e-signature solutions provider OneSpan, noted that most enterprise-scale retailers have already taken necessary steps such as multifactor authentication to secure their card data environments. He called for additional regulations to ensure all merchants follow suit.

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A survey of U.S. consumers found that technology has become increasingly integral to the shopping and dining experience, and missteps en route can lead to negative consequences. Of those polled by Boomtown, 46 percent felt more confident in brands that deliver advanced technologies consistently; 44 percent were prepared to visit such brands more frequently as a result. "Retail stores and restaurants should acknowledge that customers' expectations and demands have grown to include an intuitive, seamless technology-driven experience," said Alfred "Chip" Kahn IV, founder and CEO of Boomtown, a merchant technology deployment firm.

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Jeff Fortney, a well respected payments industry veteran and longtime contributor to The Green Sheet, was appointed senior vice president of business development and partnerships for TouchSuite LLC. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based fintech company provides POS systems, payment processing, SEO solutions, working capital and marketing services to small and midsize businesses. "Jeff's extensive experience across multiple payment verticals as well as his involvement with industry thought leaders will be key as we focus on broadening our ties with strategic partners," said Sam Zietz, founder and CEO of TouchSuite. Fortney brings over 35 years industry experience to his new role, where he will focus on strengthening and developing corporate partnerships, and evaluating new business to drive strategic growth.

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European financial institutions are implementing the EU's Payment Services Directive (PSD2), an open banking initiative that became effective Jan. 13, 2018. The new standard requires banks to share consumer account information with regulated open banking third-party service providers. A recent Accenture study, titled The Brave New World of Open Banking, noted efforts are underway to standardize methods for sharing customer data with Account Information Service Providers and Payment Initiation Service Providers.

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CipherTrace, a developer of blockchain security founded in 2015, released the CipherTrace 2018 Q2 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report on July 3, 2018. One key finding disclosed in the quarterly report: three times more cryptocurrency was stolen from exchanges in the first half of 2018 than in all of 2017.

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Survey data from the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Bank of Cleveland, published June 28, 2018, shows significant growth in nonbank finance. Browsing to Borrow: "Mom & Pop" Small Business Perspectives on Online Lenders updates the Fed's 2015 study on alternative lending. The report shares perspectives from 42 small and midsize business (SMB) owners who have up to $2 million in annual revenue and who recently shopped online for financing. Researchers acknowledged the sampling does not represent a broad demographic, noting their main objective was to "surface key issues that could guide future research, data collection, and policy analysis."

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After the California State Legislature passed AB 375 on June 29, 2018, which was devised to provide Californians with new consumer privacy rights, Californians for Consumer Privacy said it would withdraw the California Consumer Privacy Act ballot initiative through the California Secretary of State's office. The California Data Privacy Protection Act was passed as an alternative to the ballot initiative, which had been certified for November's elections. The initiative would have become law immediately after Election Day, but the legislation does not take effect until Jan. 1, 2020, giving opponents time to seek changes in the legislature.

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