ANNOUNCEMENTBlueSnap Inc.'s Powered Buy Platform was named a finalist in the Best Tech Innovation of the Year category for the 21st Annual MITX Awards, which showcase the best creative and innovative accomplishments in New England. "We have built a platform that helps merchants sell more whether they are selling via a marketplace, as an online B2C merchant or processing invoices as a B2B company," said Ralph Dangelmaier, Chief Executive Officer of BlueSnap.
Retail management company Brightpearl opened its second U.S. office in Austin, Texas, which will serve as the company's new U.S. headquarters and occupies approximately 20,000 square feet of office space. "Austin is a great place to live and is a thriving city for innovative technology companies," said Derek O'Carroll, CEO of Brightpearl.
CO-OP Financial Services Chief Product and Strategy Officer Shazia Manus was recognized with the Confidence Award during the Inspiring Women of Iowa event held April 5 in Des Moines. Manus was one of three finalists, honored for their positive state of mind and related actions. A strong believer in the cooperative spirit, Manus often encourages credit union leaders to seek out partnerships with organizations that understand the credit union philosophy.
Michael Nardy, CEO of Electronic Payments Inc., was named a semifinalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Award in the New York Region. The awards program, facilitated by EY, recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Nardy was selected by a panel of independent judges. Winners will be announced in June.
Mastercard unveiled a next generation biometric card that combines both chip and fingerprint technologies to verify cardholder identity for in-store purchases. South Africa is the first market to test the technology, where two separate trials were recently completed. The new card, which builds on fingerprint scanning technology deployed in mobile payments, can be used at EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) terminals globally, Mastercard stated.
North American Bancard Holdings LLC now offers semi-integrated solutions (SIS) as part of its enhanced program to support and protect credit card transactions. Its SIS technology includes supported terminals that can be used in conjunction with EMV POS technology. "By bypassing merchants and encrypting the credit card data so it can arrive directly at processing gateways, a merchant's liability is reduced," said Justin Muntean, NAB Senior Vice President of Sales.
NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association tracked four consecutive quarters in which ACH Network volume exceeded 5 billion quarterly electronic payments – a first for the network. According to NACHA, overall volume in 2016 grew to 25.6 billion transactions, up 5.3 percent from 2015 and the third consecutive year annual volume increased by at least 1 billion transactions. In 2016, $43.7 trillion was transferred over the NACHA Network.
A member of a scheme that used secret card-reading devices and pinhole cameras on PNC and Bank of America ATMs to steal at least $428,581 pleaded guilty in Newark, N.J., federal court before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas. Joel Abel Garcia pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and is the third of 13 defendants charged that has pleaded guilty to using counterfeit ATM cards and stolen customer information at New Jersey ATMs.
The National Retail Federation launched the next phase of a campaign that opposes the proposed border adjustment tax (BAT). "Small business owners are already struggling to survive in an over-regulated marketplace, and the border adjustment tax would push many of them under water," said David French, NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations.
PaymentVision was granted a U.S. patent for technology directed toward the enrollment of financial accounts. The new patent includes claims covering a method for facilitating secure payments within a merchant computing system without exposing it to financial account information.
In a separate development, mobile and Internet-of-Things behavioral biometrics provider Zighra received a U.S. patent for its user-specific, context dependent authentication engine which fuses machine learning and dynamically-weighted contextual information modified over time.
The contextual information includes the user's physical location, physical movements of the authenticating device, behavioral, biometric, and other information.
RESEARCHATMIA published an industry position paper, Actual versus Perceived Risks of Money Laundering at White-Label ATMs in Canada, which presents a fact-based perspective on the real nature of money-laundering risk versus perceived risk. The paper was authored by recognized ATM industry subject matter experts. "This paper shows Canada is leading the way in managing and reducing the risk of money laundering at the nation's ATMs," said Mike Lee, CEO of ATMIA.
Starfleet Research released The 2017 Smart Decisions Guide to Hotel Guest Experience Management detailing technology innovations that improve guest experience. Among those listed next-generation property management, service optimization/guest response management, and department-specific modules for concierge, spa, golf, housekeeping and other units were identified. Data integration and analytical modeling for mapping guest journey were also viewed as relevant tools for today's hoteliers.
The NFC Forum released a white paper titled ISO/IEC 14443 Analog Parameter Comparison and Alignment, which defines a generic methodology to compare analog parameter limit values defined by the NFC Forum and ISO/IEC 14443. It documents the methodology, procedures and results developed to ensure the interoperability of NFC Forum-conformant mobile devices with conformant public transport readers in providing reliable public transportation fare payment, ticketing and access controls.
According to the fourth annual Wells Fargo International Business Indicator, which tracks the international business outlook based on a survey of nearly 300 U.S. business leaders, U.S. companies expect to increase international business and emerging market activity. Citing a number of macroeconomic factors, 81 percent of U.S. companies expect higher international business activity over the next 12 months; 68 percent expect international revenue increases.
PARTNERSHIPSApriva and On Track Innovations Ltd. partnered on a new end-to-end EMV solution that supports unattended payments. The pre-certified payment solution supports magnetic stripe reader transactions and will soon be EMV certified on various processors through Apriva. As a semi-integrated solution, the OTI TRIO reader securely interfaces with Apriva's gateway to facilitate quick integration for unattended systems, the companies stated.
Bluefin Payment Systems LLC aligned with Clearwave Corp. to provide Bluefin's PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution to Clearwave clients through Clearwave's self-service medical check-in system. Through the partnership, Bluefin's P2PE technology will handle patient co-payments on the Clearwave check-in system and using a PCI-approved point of entry device will securely encrypt patient cardholder data, the companies noted.
Cayan LLC formed a strategic partnership with hospitality POS software provider Aldelo L.P. With the integration of its software into Cayan's Genius Platform, Aldelo achieved EMV certification with Cayan. According to Aldelo, its easy-to-use restaurant POS solution now has over 120,000 installations globally. With the addition of Genius Countertop and Genius Handheld devices, Aldelo plans to expand revenue opportunities throughout its dealer network.
Gas Station TV and Verifone created a 50-50 joint venture that combines the assets and operations of Verifone's Pump Media division with GSTV, which is owned by Detroit-based Rockbridge Growth Equity LLC and Falcon Investment Advisors LLC. The combined business will operate under the GSTV brand and deliver 3.3 billion annual impressions through more than 18,000 locations in all 50 states by the end of the year, according to both partners.
Mastercard partnered with PayRange Inc. to offer consumers the ability to buy beverages and snacks with Masterpass at North American vending machine locations. With the PayRange app, consumers can select items and then pay for them using Masterpass. "The partnership with Mastercard grants millions of consumers access to the rewarding cashless experience across the PayRange network of machines," said Paresh Patel, founder and CEO at PayRange.
Payix and Nortridge Software LLC formed a strategic alliance to help lenders connect with their borrowers and improve the ability to collect payments. Payix now offers real-time integration of its suite of collections tools with the Nortridge Loan System. Nortridge clients are able to add Payix solutions, including web, interactive voice response, text, and collector portal applications, to most existing collections tools, the companies stated.
After a decade-long partnership, POS Portal recently added Vantiv-ready payment devices to meet the needs of Vantiv partners across the integrated payments channel, including users of Vantiv's cloud-based triPOS platform. According to POS Portal, its team worked closely with Vantiv to certify the necessary downloads and encryptions that ensure any outgoing payment devices for Vantiv merchant customers are correctly configured and arrive ready to deploy.
CashStar Inc. welcomed Shop.com to the CashStar Exchange Commerce Services program enabling Shop.com customers to purchase digital gift cards from CashStar's more than 250 merchant brands. "CashStar is an ideal partner for us given their digital gifting expertise, high level of service and best-in-class platform," said Eddie Alberty, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for Shop.com.
Transactis partnered with Walletron Inc., expanding its electronic BillerIQ billpay offering to include Walletron's moBills bill-to-wallet service. The service will enable businesses to present notifications, bill statements and a streamlined mobile payment experience without requiring an app download. Walletron will serve Transactis' premier distribution client base within the financial services, technology and digital communications industries.
Vantiv Inc. partnered with On Tap Credit Union to provide ATM, debit and credit card payment processing in addition to fraud solutions, card marketing and loyalty services to On Tap and its CU members. In a separate development, Vantiv teamed with Womply to deliver Vantiv BizShield and Insights to small and midsize businesses (SMBs), which will enable businesses to monitor real-time data, analytics and online reputation, and respond proactively to threats.
ACQUISITIONSEVO Payments International consolidated the operations of one of its long-standing partners, Vision Payment Solutions LLC. Headquartered in Maine, VPS provides payment solutions to SMBs across North America. "We are thankful for the all the support we have received from the entire EVO team over the years, and are confident that our merchants will continue to be well served by EVO going forward," said Eric Hannelius, VPS co-founder and CEO.
The UK Competition & Markets Authority gave final approval for the proposed set of remedies that address competition concerns CMA identified earlier this year regarding Mastercard's acquisition of VocaLink Holdings Ltd. The deal was expected to close within weeks of the April decision. "Adding bank account-based payments alongside our card network extends what we can do and how we can do it," said Michael Miebach, Mastercard Chief Product Officer.
Spindle Inc. finalized an agreement to acquire specific digital marketing software assets from CoverCake Inc. CoverCake's software is expected to enhance the sophistication and proprietary strengths of Spindle's CATALYST Platform. CoverCake's software capabilities include intelligent content aggregation, data mining on various social media data feed platforms, and a robust backend content management system.
PayPal Holdings Inc. and TIO Networks Corp. revealed the previously announced transaction, pursuant to which PayPal will indirectly acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of TIO, was approved in April by a final order of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Completion of the arrangement remains conditional on obtaining regulatory approvals and certain other closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of 2017.
APPOINTMENTSJetPay Corp. added a new technology leader to its senior management team who will guide the company's information technology initiatives, which include payment and payroll technology solutions, and ongoing security enhancements. John Crouch joined JetPay as Chief Information Officer. Crouch is an accomplished leader with more than 30 years experience in information technology, data security and business operations.
Computer Services Inc. promoted David Culbertson to Chief Operating Officer. In his new role, Culbertson will oversee the strategic direction for the company's entire portfolio of technology and financial services solutions and will lead the development, implementation and support of CSI's core banking solutions, electronic and print distribution offerings and IT managed services. Culbertson has nearly 30 years experience within CSI's tech and financial services groups.
PAR Technology Corp. appointed Dr. Donald H. Foley to the role of President and CEO. Dr. Foley, with more than 35 years of technology based government contracting and organizational management experience, previously held various senior executive positions at Science Applications International Corp., a government science and engineering contractor. Par operates both hospitality/retail technology and government technology service segments.
Chargebacks911 named Kristjan Gjura as Vice President of Business Development, an integral component of Chargebacks911's continued global expansion. Previously with fraud prevention firm Ethoca Ltd., Gjura has more than 10 years experience in the financial sector. Gjura's will focus on assisting merchants in verticals with emerging risk, as well as expanding exclusive relationships with leading aggregators, third-party vendors, acquirers and financial institutions.
Chain Inc. appointed Tom Jessop as President. Jessop joins Chain from Goldman Sachs, where he was Managing Director, Technology Business Development and Chief Financial Officer of the Technology Division. He will report to Adam Ludwin, CEO at Chain, and be responsible for leading all facets of Chain's commercial efforts to partner with organizations to build, deploy and operate blockchain networks that enable breakthrough financial products and services.
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