ANNOUNCEMENTSU.S. Bancorp subsidiary Elavon Inc. received validation for its Safe-T Link with P2PE Protect as a PCI Security Standards Council Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solution. Receiving this level of validation gives Elavon customers the strongest encryption protection by making data less valuable if stolen; it also helps businesses manage card industry data protection mandates and reduces the high costs associated with maintaining Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standards compliance, the company stated.
EVO Payments International filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of Class A common stock of EVO Payments Inc., which will become the parent and sole managing member of the public company. The number of shares to be sold and price range for the IPO have not yet been determined. EVO plans to list its Class A common stock on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the "EVOP" symbol. J.P. Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey are the lead book-running managers for the proposed offering.
The Federal Trade Commission launched a national education campaign to help small businesses strengthen cybersecurity defenses and better protect sensitive data. "Our new campaign aims to help these small businesses with targeted, plain-language advice on everything from protecting against phishing scams to tips on what to look for when choosing a cybersecurity vendor," said Tom Pahl, Acting Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Denmark-based payment technology provider Nets A/S began testing finger vein payments at the Copenhagen Business School, which enables students to transact using their finger at checkout. In collaboration with CBS, Smart Payments and Fingopay, Nets installed finger scanners at checkout in the school's cafeteria. Anyone with a Dankort, the national debit card of Denmark, may enroll in the program which links the unique patterns of veins in the finger to an account.
Onpex's multilayered, application programming interface (API)-driven platform was given the Online Payment Platform of the Year award by Corporate LiveWire, a firm that offers business and corporate-finance professionals information on relevant developments globally. "We provide multicurrency IBAN accounts and acquiring powered by flexible, API-driven technology to create simple, compliant, and cost-efficient payment and banking solutions," Onpex stated.
A $20 million investment in SpotOn Transact LLC, led by founding twin brothers Matt and Zach Hyman, who recently sold their Central Payment venture to Total System Services Inc., will be used to advance SpotOn's platform for small to midsize merchants. "We are aggressively investing to bring best-in-class, integrated payment and software solutions to SMBs," said Matt Hyman. "In the past year, we have hired over 100 new employees across all departments to provide a strong bench of support to our merchants and Sales Partners."
The Governance Framework Formation Team, a 27-member work group established by the Faster Payments Task Force and facilitated by the Federal Reserve, released a draft framework for the proposed U.S. Faster Payments Council. "A goal of the FPC is to allow all stakeholders to have a voice in shaping the future of our nation’s faster payments system," said Adam Rust, Director of Research, Reinvestment Partners. The operating vision for the FPC is available for review and feedback via an online survey through June 22 at fedpaymentsimprovement.org.
RESEARCH
According to the semiannual Bank of America Business Advantage Spring 2018 Small Business Owner Report, small business optimism about the U.S. economy, revenue and long-term growth reached its highest level since 2015. Of the 1,000 small business owners surveyed, 54 percent felt confident the economy will continue to improve, up 25 percentage points from two years ago; 56 percent were confident about the strength of their local economy; 60 percent anticipated higher revenues in 2018 and had plans to grow their businesses over the next five years.
Kount Inc., in conjunction with The Fraud Practice, released the inaugural State of Payment Processing & Fraud: 2018, a compilation of data from a survey involving approximately 15 percent of the global payment processor community. Justin McDonald, Senior Risk Management Consultant at The Fraud Practice, noted that 73 percent of processors surveyed currently provide fraud prevention tools or techniques as value-added services and nearly three-quarters plan to increase support for risk management services in 2018.
PARTNERSHIPSThreat management services firm Anomali partnered with Visa Inc. to provide intelligence to cybersecurity teams on indicators of compromise drawn from Visa Threat Intelligence, an exclusive source of verified merchant breach intelligence. Delivered to the Anomali platform via an API from the Visa Developer Platform, Visa Threat Intelligence enables merchants to cross-collaborate to proactively mitigate threats and secure critical access points, the partners noted.
Ingenico Group formed an alliance with USA Technologies Inc. to pursue unattended retail markets with a bundled solution pairing Ingenico's hardware, software, security and services suite with USAT's ePort Connect unattended retail market platform. "By leveraging unattended solutions, the retail businesses have a huge opportunity to create new interactions with customers and capture impulse purchases that previously couldn't be sustained without being able to accept electronic payment," said Jennifer Miles, Ingenico Executive Vice President, North America.
A partnership between ParTech Inc. and Checkmate.com Inc. will enable automatic entry of third-party delivery orders directly into restaurant POS systems. According to PAR, its cloud-based Brink POS software, when connected with Checkmate, can integrate with various online platforms such as Grubhub, Eat24, Uber Eats, Delivery.com, Brandibble, among others. Using the system orders flow directly to the POS and kitchen, improving efficiency, the partners stated.
Cloud-based connected-commerce and loyalty services provider Sionic Mobile entered an alliance with FreedomPay Inc. to integrate its services for FreedomPay clients in the lodging, gaming, retail, restaurant, stadium and hospitality industries. In a separate development, Sionic teamed with global payment processor Payscout, which will enable international merchants to take advantage of Sionic's ION Commerce Engine and Mobile Rewards Marketplace.
ACQUISITIONSPaysafe UK Holdings UK Ltd. agreed to acquire Westlake Village, Calif.-based iPayment Holdings Inc., which reportedly processed over $28 billion for more than 137,000 merchants in 2017. Last year, Paysafe acquired U.S.-based Merchants Choice Payment Solutions. Pending final regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to be completed in Q2 2018. Paysafe Payment Processing North America CEO Todd Linden will lead the merged organization.
Square Inc. completed the acquisition of certain assets of Zesty's catering platform, which according to Square will enable its food ordering platform, Caviar, to scale its Caviar for Teams corporate ordering business. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Separately, Square entered a definitive agreement to acquire Weebly Inc. for approximately $365 million in cash and stock. Weebly's technology offers tools for building professional websites and online stores.
APPOINTMENTSPayQwick, a payment processor targeting licensed cannabis businesses, named payments veteran Albert Acevedo as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to his new role, Acevedo served as Finance Director at PayPal and Vice President, Corporate Treasurer and Finance for Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. "Albert brings more than two decades of fintech expertise, which is critical to our company today as the leader in cannabis fintech," said Ken Berke, President of PayQwick.
North American Bancard Holdings LLC appointed Zavida Mangaru as Executive Vice President, Product and Marketing. She previously led product and strategy development at Mastercard, and most recently served as Head of Product for Total Merchant Services. "I'm pleased to welcome Zavida to North American Bancard's leadership team as we renew our commitment to advancing our diverse suite of products and services," said Marc Gardner, President and CEO of NAB.
Atlanta-based fintech firm Payscape appointed a recent graduate from its Manager Candidate Program, Kelly Schmidt, to serve as Sales Development Leader in Paysafe's St. Louis office. Schmidt will be responsible for growing a team of local consultants to advise St. Louis area businesses on financial technology and merchant service options. A University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point graduate, Schmidt brings 14 years experience to her new role.
Socure, a provider of predictive analytics for digital identity verification, appointed Tom Thimot as CEO. Company founder and original CEO Sunil Madhu will focus on platform innovation and work with Thimot on new market opportunities as Socure's new Chief Strategy Officer. Most recently, Thimot served as CEO of data analytics consultancy Clarity Insights. 
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