ANNOUNCEMENTSATMIA published an international Best Practices for Securing Deposit and Cash Recycling Machines manual that outlines risks inherent in deposit machines, including fake machines, as well as fraudulent and empty envelope deposits. It also discusses risks associated with fishing and removal of envelope deposits, cash-out trapping, counterfeit deposits, and manipulation of the currency template, along with recommended risk mitigation measures.
After review of a proposal by The Clearing House Payments Company LLC to create and operate a new Real Time Payment system that enables faster fund transfers between depository institutions, the Justice Department said it will not challenge the effort. The department's position was detailed in a business review letter to counsel for TCH submitted by Andrew C. Finch, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division. TCH is a joint venture of 24 U.S. banks.
Jack Henry & Associates Inc. placed 14 in the 2017 IDC FinTech 100 Rankings compiled by IDC Financial Insights. This marks the ninth consecutive year Jack Henry has been named to the list of top global financial technology providers based on revenue. "The IDC FinTech Rankings, now in its 14th year, is the global industry standard who's who of financial services technology providers, and we congratulate the 2017 winners," said Karen Massey, Senior Analyst at IDC.
On Sept. 15, 2017, NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association launched Same Day ACH (automated clearing house) for debit payments, a faster payments option that reaches all U.S. bank accounts and enables businesses and consumers to send and receive same-day payments and payment-related information through the ACH network.
In a separate development, from Sept. 19 to Feb. 16, 2018, NACHA is accepting nominations for the 2018 NACHA Payments Awards, which celebrate proven accomplishment and leadership in the payments industry. Winners will be honored during the 2018 NACHA Payments Awards Luncheon to be held in San Diego on May 1. For more information, visit payments.nacha.org/awards.
Canada-based online payment processing platform NetCents Technology Inc. launched its own digital currency on Sept. 19. NetCents Currency will initially be available to NetCents' registered users through a proprietary cryptocurrency exchange. "With our high usability and accessibility, we believe NetCents is positioned to become the leading currency of choice for merchants," said Clayton Moore, founder and CEO of NetCents.
The National Retail Federation issued a statement that takes issue with a recent South Dakota Supreme Court ruling against a 2016 state law requiring merchants with over $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions with state residents to collect sales tax. The court said the state cannot require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax. The NRF believes the ruling sets the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the 1992 Quill decision requiring only sellers with a physical presence in states to collect sales tax in those states.
"It's time for Congress to pass a law that recognizes the evolution in the retail industry over the past two-and-half decades and say that online sellers should no longer be given an unfair advantage over Main Street merchants," said David French, NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations. The NRF supports pending legislation to pass the Remote Transactions Parity Act, which would allow states to require all out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax.
The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against operators of the mobile app Pact, claiming the company promised cash incentives when consumers met fitness and nutrition goals, but didn't pay them and billed customers without their consent. Pact operators agreed to cease misrepresenting terms under which Pact will charge or make payments to consumers; stop charging without express, informed consent; and pay a $1.5 million judgment.
Payment Alliance International initiated a corporate rebrand, adopting a new logo and visual identity, and repositioning its corporate messaging to fuel further growth, the company said. After 12 years in business, PAI is currently the nation's largest privately held ATM provider. "We're constantly charting new frontiers and alliances to propel our business forward and advance ATM technology," said John J. Leehy III, PAI President and Chief Executive Officer.
Retail payment and gift card marketplace firm Raise Marketplace Inc. raised $60 million in Series C funding led by Accel, with participation from PayPal Holdings Inc. and several existing investors. The new financing brings the total capital raised by the company to more than $147 million. Raise plans to use the new funds to develop its closed-loop mobile payment network, deepen its focus on the future of prepaid cards and build a world-class retail partnerships team.
Ecommerce technology developer Shoppable secured a patent for a universal shopping cart technology that enables multiretailer checkout, also known as universal checkout, a scalable way to aggregate purchasing from multiple vendors into a single checkout.
"We see this patent as recognition for our leadership in innovation for building what many consumers really want from ecommerce – the ability to buy what they discover wherever they are online," said Heather Marie, founder and CEO of Shoppable. "With this patent now in tow, we are excited to continue developing commerce opportunities and licenses for platforms, social media and digital media entities."
SignaPay Ltd. launched a newly redesigned company website and partner portal. The site includes a fresh layout with improved functionality and provides user-friendly navigation for access to SignaPay's solutions, resources, information and support, the company noted. In addition, SignaPay introduced PayLo POS, a federally compliant cash discount technology replete with merchant business tools and an alternative to traditional fee-based card programs.
RESEARCHAn Aite Group LLC report, Digital Authentication: New Opportunities to Enhance the Customer Journey, explores merchant and financial institution (FI) initiatives to create intuitive user experiences. The report outlines the various digital channel fraud detection and authentication solutions, their pros and cons, and provides vendor mapping. It also offers advice on how FIs and merchants can evolve their protective strategies.
The Electronic Transactions Association paper How Fintech is Addressing the Financial Needs of the Underserved highlights how ETA members use technology to address the financial needs of underserved consumers. Methods include financial literacy/readiness, expanded Internet and ADA compliance innovations, mobile and peer-to-peer payments, and prepaid products, as well as banking services such as mobile banking, online lending and interactive ATMs.
According to Euclid Inc.' Evolution of Retail, 2017 Holiday Physical and Digital Retail Trends, of the 1,500 U.S. consumers it surveyed, 72 percent are most excited about Cyber Monday, followed by Black Friday (62 percent) and the day after Christmas (55 percent) for shopping this holiday season. "Brick-and-mortar can still pull off a holiday win, but they'll need to couple new in-store experiences and the convenience factor to get it done," said Euclid CEO Brent Franson.
Over half of U.S. consumers expect to abandon cash for shopping by 2020, according to Lost in Transaction, published by Paysafe Holdings UK Ltd. The analysis uncovered growing momentum for cashless transactions, with 54 percent of U.S. respondents claiming to visit ATMs only once monthly; one in seven rarely carrying cash at all. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they rely less on cash than a year ago. Researchers expect the trend to continue.
PARTNERSHIPSAdvanced Credit Technologies Inc. formed a strategic alliance whereby Zoompass Inc. will deploy its multilayered authentication CyberloQ FRAUD prevention technology. CyberloQ provides an integrated fraud mitigation system for the prepaid and credit card sector. Zoompass will be one of the first prepaid card companies to install the next-generation fraud mitigation system on its platform, the companies stated.
Aliant Payment Systems entered a strategic processing relationship with BitPay Inc., an Atlanta-based global bitcoin payment provider. This relationship makes Aliant one of the first payment processing companies to offer merchants the ability to accept payments in bitcoin, the companies noted. "Aliant is looking to the future of blockchain, bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and we're excited to bring a bitcoin solution to our clients," said Eric Brown, CEO of Aliant.
BlueSnap Inc. integrated to Salesforce.com Inc. using the AppFrontier LLC Chargent payment processing app on Salesforce's AppExchange. Merchants are now able to select BlueSnap as their gateway through Chargent, and the integration makes it possible to accept and process payments in 100 currencies directly in Salesforce. Salesforce users can initiate credit card or ACH payments, or send requests for users to enter card information via a secure payment link.
First Data Corp. entered a long-term agreement with Valley National Bank to provide secure commerce solutions to the bank's merchant clients. The referral relationship will provide First Data's solution suite, including its Clover platform, to bank clients in New Jersey, New York and Florida. Bank users will also have access to First Data's ecommerce solutions, including a range of tools that allow businesses to accept online and mobile transactions, the companies said.
CardFlight Inc. and Merchant e-Solutions Inc. teamed to offer CardFlight's SwipeSimple mobile POS to merchants interested in accepting EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) card payments on mobile devices. "SwipeSimple is a perfect fit for merchants who want to accept payments on their smartphones and tablets with a secure, easy to use application and card reader," said Trevor Rubel, Co-CEO and Executive Vice President of Product, Merchant e-Solutions.
Payscape and Trinity Ministries Inc., dba Trinity/HPSI, teamed to provide Trinity/HPSI members with integrated fintech products to help streamline and support such services as online registration, giving kiosks, electronic invoicing and mobile processing capabilities. Trinity/HPSI partners with third-party provider to reduce operational costs to more than 2,300 camps, conference centers, churches, rescue missions and other organizations in its member network.
Transflo by Pegasus Trantech LLC, a provider of enterprise mobility, telematics and business process automation for the transportation industry, signed with EFS, a Wex Company. Under terms of the agreement, EFS will add Transflo Telematics to its portfolio of data, payment and compliance solutions for the transportation industry, to service fleet clients seeking electronic logging device technology to stay in compliance with forthcoming regulations later this year.
Vantiv Inc. teamed with Visa to launch FastAccess Funding, which enables merchants to receive settlement payouts to their debit cards in minutes, once funded, in contrast to one to three days via ACH. The product is the first merchant solution to launch on Vantiv's new push-to-card platform, the company noted. Vantiv plans to utilize the Visa Direct card-based platform to deliver funds in real time to customers' debit cards as an enhancement to its authorization and funding processes.
ACQUISITIONSSan Diego-based Reliant Funding and New York-based Merchants Capital Access have joined under the Reliant Funding name. Both companies offer working capital for small and midsize businesses nationwide and are focused on making the funding experience fast and simple. "We can now do everything from start to finish in house, providing them [customers] access to an ongoing funding relationship with one call," said Adam Stettner, founder and CEO of Reliant Funding.
APPOINTMENTSApriva confirmed the addition of Scott Dowty as Chief Revenue Officer. Dowty will lead Apriva's sales and marketing efforts to expand core vertical penetration and architect emerging market strategy. "We look forward to Scott extending Apriva's market leadership in self-service and attended card-present payments, and opening new markets for our technology platform," said David Riddiford, President at Apriva.
FIME appointed Lionel Grosclaude as its new CEO. Grosclaude will be tasked with driving the company's expansion strategy to increase FIME's geographical presence globally and develop new services in emerging sectors. Grosclaude has over 20 years of experience in the telecom, information technology and banking sectors, working in executive roles across Europe and the United States.
Square Inc. appointed Naveen Rao, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Artificial Intelligence Products Group at Intel Corp., to its Board of Directors. "Machine learning and deep learning are crucial to our continued innovation and growth," said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square. "Naveen's expertise will be hugely helpful to Square as we continue to integrate these technologies into every aspect of our business to ultimately better serve our customers."
The ETA confirmed that Elizabeth (Liz) Ryan, Executive Vice President and Wholesale Merchant Services Segment Executive at Wells Fargo & Co., joined the ETA Board of Directors. A 30-year veteran in the financial services industry, Ryan leads the Wholesale Merchant Services Segment at Wells Fargo, which includes 200-plus team members serving a diverse group of customers that generate more than $320 billion in card volume processed annually. 
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