ANNOUNCEMENTSAnywhereCommerce reported it was awarded a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for encryption technology. The technology is used in the firm's line-up of mobile POS devices. AnywhereCommerce said it also has patents for audio-jack technology that turns smart mobile devices into POS terminals.
Cardtek USA moved its headquarters to larger facilities in Chicago. The move was necessary due to increased business from bank issuers needing the Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) -based programs, Cardtek said.
Charge Anywhere LLC was elected to the Leadership Council for the Latin America and Caribbean Regions (LAC) chapter of the Smart Card Alliance (SCALA). The growth of mobile payments and the EMV liability shifts that have taken place across the LAC region "make our specialized and tenured hands-on knowledge on the subject particularly timely for us to become a part of such a leading organization," said Oscar Muñoz, Executive Vice President and Senior Vice President of International Business Development at Charge Anywhere.
Clayton, Mo.-based ISO Clearent LLC said it will participate in LaunchCode, a program designed to nurture developer talent and keep it in the greater St. Louis area. Clearent said it has a "tremendous need for talented developers" due to its growth as a company.
Fidelity Information Systems said it was selected to build a new payment hub in Australia for eftpos, the most commonly used debit card system in Australia. FIS noted that its global electronic funds transfer switching platform will replace Australia's current bilateral networks. The new eftpos payments hub will be operational in 2014, according to FIS.
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. invested $20 million in tablet POS hardware provider Leaf. Heartland said the funds will be used to advance the manufacturing capabilities for LeafPresenter, a proprietary, purpose-built tablet computer, and to hire additional staff. Heartland also became a distribution partner for Leaf services and will build value-added applications on the Leaf platform, including payroll, mobile and online ordering apps.
POS terminal manufacturer Ingenico SA said it is supporting U.S. EMV adoption by assisting U.S. processors in certifying their systems as EMV compliant, which is necessary as part of the card brands' overall EMV migration plan. Ingenico reported it played a pivotal role in the Canadian EMV migration, providing a platform for processors to test EMV transactions.
NCR Corp. entered a four-year agreement with the Atlanta Falcons National Football League team. As part of the agreement, Official Falcons Gear, the Atlanta Falcons Retail arm will install NCR's Netkey Endless Aisle solution. This will allow stadium fans to preorder team merchandise from designated NCR Express Zones for pickup anytime during the game, thus reducing waiting time in lines, the companies noted.
At the RDC Summit 2013 held Sept. 25 to 27 in Orlando, Fla., check scanner manufacturer Panini featured mI:Deal, dubbed a breakthrough solution with architecture that combines innovation and ease-of-use with plug-and-play connectivity to maximize functionality and return on investment. The mI:Deal has a compact, clam shell design, with an ergonomic horizontal feeding area and straight paper path.
Atlanta-based ISO Payscape Advisors opened a new central Florida office. The office is located in Tampa, Fla.'s historic Garcia & Vega Cigar Factory. Payscape expects to hire more than 20 account managers for the new office; the goal is to expand the company's presence in Florida.
Toronto-based Security Compass Inc. updated its SD Elements secure coding platform for web and mobile application developers. The updates include new content to cover the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS). Security Compass said the added content allows payment application developers to build PA-DSS-compliant applications from the start.
Swipely said that, only one year after entering the ISO space, it now manages over $1 billion in annual sales for merchants across 29 states. Swipely reported it has doubled sales in the last four months, and expanded its platform support to more than 100 POS systems. The company called its 100 percent compound quarterly growth rate over the last four quarters "astounding."
Verifi Inc., a payment and risk management solutions provider for card-not-present merchants, was awarded two Stevie Awards for outstanding product innovation. Verifi received a Bronze Stevie Award for Tech Innovator of the Year and a Bronze Stevie for New Product or Service of the Year - Software - Financial Management Solution. The awards, conferred by the American Business Awards, were judged and selected by a panel of more than 320 business executives nationwide.
RESEARCH According to the 5th Annual LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud study commissioned by LexisNexis Risk Solutions and conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research, merchants will incur $279 in losses for every $100 in fraud committed in 2013, with online fraud activity being the most expensive channel for fraud. The study also found online retailers are losing a smaller portion of revenue to fraud this year, 0.51 percent versus 0.54 percent in 2012.
Mobile POS provider I Love Velvet, in conjunction with OnePoll, released survey results in a Consumer Mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) Attitudes Report. Researchers found 51 percent of consumers polled believe merchant use of cash registers will be "gone soon."
An Adil Consulting report titled Acquiring Small Merchants revealed that when merchants select payment processors, merchant size, current POS type and tenure with previous processor are key factors. The report details what merchants processing less that $5 million annually deem most important in processor selection and forecasts volume growth in payment processing for U.S. merchants through 2017.
Mercator Advisory Group's Mobile Payments 2013: Young Adults and Minorities Take the Lead, details the changing mobile payments landscape. The study found 75 percent of young adults, 73 percent of Asians, 70 percent of Hispanics and 64 percent of Blacks own smartphones, compared with 55 percent of total U.S. households as of June 2013.
PARTNERSHIPSIngenico entered an agreement to deliver payment security to Nets' iSelf-Service unattended parking payment solution being piloted in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. In the initial rollout, Ingenico will provide an integrated payment solution based on secure PIN pad and card reader, with contactless capability to follow, the companies stated.
E-commerce software developer PrestaShop Inc. integrated First Data Corp.'s Express Merchant Processing Solutions with its Prestashop v.1.5 program now available for download on the PrestaShop Official Marketplace. "Joining forces with First Data reflects our commitment to provide our merchants with all the essential tools to build a successful and scalable online store," said Matt Serralta, Chief Operating Officer of PrestaShop.
Mobile payment solutions provider Zapp entered a strategic partnership with WorldPay to integrate its software with WorldPay's payment platform to enhance speed and functionality of online and mobile merchant checkout processes. WorldPay plans to make the integrated product available to merchants in 2014.
ACQUISITIONS Norcross, Ga.-based FleetCor Technologies Inc. expanded into Brazil with the acquisition of transportation card and voucher provider VB Servicos, Comercio e Administracao LTDA and an agreement to purchase Brazilian independent trucker payment solutions provider DB Trans S.A. A separate joint agreement with Brazilian fuel card network Good Card further expands FleetCor's presence in that nation.
Mobile technology firm SinglePoint Inc. reported that it acquired certain assets of payment gateway services firm Six Sigma Services Inc., including $1,137,123 revenues year-to-date, in exchange for 4 million SinglePoint restricted shares.
US Data Capture Inc. entered a merger agreement with Charge Payment LLC and will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Charge Payment.
APPOINTMENTSG2 Web Services selected Roy Banks to be the newest member of its board of directors. Banks has more than 20 years of public and private corporate leadership, most recently as CEO of Accelerated Payment Technologies Inc.
Vantiv Inc. appointed Daniela Mielke as its Chief Strategy Officer. Mielke will be responsible for leading the development and oversight of company strategy in support of Vantiv's growth objectives and to help drive product innovation, profitability, revenue and scale throughout the organization. Most recently, Mielke served as Vice President of Global Strategy at PayPal Inc., where she was responsible for developing strategies for the company's future.
Michael Pratt was appointed CEO for Panini and will lead the company’s global operations. Pratt joined Panini in 2007 as Director of Marketing for Panini North America. He was subsequently promoted to global Chief Marketing Officer, playing a strategic and central role in the expansion and diversification of the company. Before joining Panini, Pratt served in senior executive roles with a number of prominent corporations.
Geoffrey Stocki signed on with North American Bancard as Vice President of Operations. He will work with the existing team to drive operational efficiencies during a period of expansion. A veteran executive with expertise in NAB's core business areas, Stocki previously served as Vice President, Dealer Services and Credit Center, for Automotive Credit Corp.
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