ANNOUNCEMENTSIngenico Group is celebrating a decade as the payments partner of The Card and Payments Awards, during which time it has raised more than £100,000 for TCPA's chosen charities. Each year, TCPA raises funds for a designated charity on the night of the awards ceremony. Ingenico has provided state of the art payment terminals for each of the tables at the awards ceremony, enabling more than 1,100 guests each year to purchase charity raffle tickets, Ingenico noted. At this year's ceremony, which will be held on Feb. 6, 2020, Ingenico and TCPA will be collecting donations on behalf of First Love Foundation, which provides food, support and advice to people who are facing crisis in their lives.
According to the Secure Technology Alliance, there are now 18 electric vehicle charging networks offering over 28,900 public charging locations with over 87,000 charging outlets in North America. With this rapid growth, the industry faces challenges in providing drivers with a consistent and easy-to-use payment experience from one EV charging station to the next. Thus, the STA is hosting a webinar on payment platform innovations for EV charging stations to educate industry stakeholders on new technologies that can address this challenge. The webinar will be held on Feb. 5, 2020 at 1 p.m. ET.
To register, visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4899176826887341569.
Transaction Network Services said it is helping merchant acquirers and processors secure their payments infrastructure in the growing India market with the launch of TNS' Domestic Wireless Access SIM solution. TNS' technology reportedly can be used with any wireless POS terminal in India. "We believe our Domestic Wireless Solution to be the first of its kind to be offered to the India market," said Bill Versen, chief product officer at TNS. "What sets us apart is that our technology has been specifically built for payments terminals. This is critical for merchant acquirers and processors looking to guard their terminals in India against unauthorized use in this emerging market."
RESEARCHBusiness Insider Intelligence released the 2020 Payments Ecosystem report, which spotlights and explains trends driving growth and shaping the future of the payment processing industry. Among the finding are that power dynamics in the industry are changing as businesses and consumers shift dollars from cash and checks to digital payment methods; cards dominate the in-store retail channel, but mobile wallets are seeing a rapid uptick in usage; e-commerce will chip away at brick-and-mortar retail as smartphones attract a rising share of digital shopping; digital peer-to-peer apps are supplanting cash in the day-to-day lives of users across generations as they become more appealing and useful; and change is trickling down into bigger industries long-dominated by cash and check, like remittances and business-to-business payments.
The Emerging Payments Association published a guide to address the need for increased access to bank accounts. Ten account providers from the United Kingdom contributed to the report titled Guide to Payment Account Providers, the EPA stated, adding that these include e-money institutions, digital banks and other payment institutions. The guide examines what kind of accounts respondents offer, their risk appetite and schemes they support. The payments industry has often been subject to criticism for closing its doors to businesses due to an increased level of de-risking by UK banks; however, this report provides an objective summary and extended invitation to all UK providers for contribution, the EPA noted.
PARTNERSHIPSPayment platform BlueSnap and Kount, an AI-driven fraud prevention provider, partnered to provide merchants with an all-in-one platform for processing international payments and minimizing losses to fraud. Less than half of North American retailers sell internationally and cite fraud and currency and payment processing as the top reasons why they don't do so, the partners found. BlueSnap and Kount joined forces to help merchants overcome these barriers to growth. Using their solution, businesses achieve less fraud, fewer false positives, increased sales, and fewer manual reviews, they added.
Ingenico Group integrated Apple Pay support for loyalty programs into its payment solutions to offer merchants and consumers more value in-store. Through the integration, merchants of all sizes using Ingenico solutions will now be able to leverage the fast and convenient experience of loyalty, rewards, gift cards and other value-added services in Apple Wallet on iPhone to unlock new points of engagement, improve in-store experiences and drive loyalty with their customers, Ingenico stated. Participating merchants are able to customize solutions to create a number of new benefits for both their business and their customers, Ingenico added.
InTu Mobility, a field mobility advisory firm, partnered with Financial Transmission Network Inc., a provider of integrated receivables solutions. As part of the FTNI partner network, InTu will now be able to expand its portfolio of mobility solutions by offering customers the ability to accept, process, and post a payment from any payment method, and from any payment channel. FTNI's integrated receivables include secure, mobile payment solutions for both Android and iOS, and can accept multiple forms of remote payments, which is important for InTu customers who distribute goods and collect payments in the field, the partners noted.
Retail technology specialist Linx and Brazil-based payment app have joined forces to bring QR-code payments to more than 100,000 establishments offering the Linx payment system. Created in 2012, PicPay is a pioneer in the use of the QR code for financial transactions in Brazil and has completed more than 3.5 million transactions, the partners stated. This integration is designed to help prevent fraud and bring agility to the payment market, enabling faster, more efficient management. At the cashier, the retailer will show only one QR code, which can be paid on different platforms, such as PicPay and other Linx e-wallet partners, they added.
Shift4 Payments completed certification with Ingenico's Telium TETRA line of payment terminals. This initiative will enable Shift4 customers and partners across all industries to implement the next generation of payment acceptance devices, Shift4 stated. Shift4 delivers an all-in-one ecosystem of connected solutions. Ingenico's Telium TETRA devices support up to PCI PTS 5.x and will be secured by Shift4's PCI-validated point-to-point encryption and tokenization technologies, the partners added.
ACQUISITIONNordic payment service provider Nets completed the acquisition of Poplatek, a Finnish software developer, and its spinoff Poplapay. Nets stated it expects the acquisition will strengthen its group-wide payments application and boost its payment terminal services. Poplatek CEO Mikko Virtanen stated that the acquisition means an exciting time as Poplatek becomes part of a leading industry player. Robert Hoffman, CEO of merchant services at Nets, said, "Poplatek is an agile and high performing tech company, and Poplapay has solid capabilities within payment terminal services. Together, they will help us increase our flexibility to better accommodate different customer needs across Europe and provide best-in-class payment solutions."
APPOINTMENTSPayment processing company National Payment Systems expanded its executive team and rebranded as Boom Commerce, a company dedicated to providing merchants and partners with cutting-edge payment technology and other software and hardware solutions. The Boom brand affirms the company's commitment to the growth and success of its merchants and distribution partners, the company said. Sabin Burrell, founder of BlueSquare Resolutions, joined Boom as CEO to create a team of seasoned payments executives to execute on the company's ambitious growth plan. Greg Forte (formerly with Fiserv Global Business Solutions) was named senior vice president focused on growing Boom's commercial middle market vertical. Kayla Jantz (formerly with BlueSquare Resolutions) was named vice president.
The Boom team is also guided by an advisory board of founders and executives from across the financial, payments and technology industries. Stephen Chang (Acrewood Holdings) and Darrin Ginsberg (E-Commerce Exchange and Super G Capital) will advise the executive team as they position the company as a leader in the rapidly evolving payments industry.
Klarna, a smooth shopping and payment provider, appointed Francine (Fran) Ereira to the role of general manager for Australia and New Zealand. She will be responsible for Klarna's launch and growth in Australia, as well as lead the company's daily operations and expansion across the region.
For the past decade Fran has been a leader in the digital retail finance and payments industry, most recently as a senior executive at Zip Co. She has over 20 years of experience in senior roles at such retail and technology companies as The Walt Disney Co., Sheridan, eWave and Temando.
CloudMargin, the creator of a collateral and margin management solution native to the cloud, promoted Armando Hernandez to the role of executive director, head of North America. A 25-year veteran of the fintech, investment banking and derivatives industries, Hernandez joined London-based CloudMargin in September 2018 as director of new business development for North America. In the new role, he takes responsibility for the entire North American operating unit, including sales, relationship management, partnerships and client onboarding.
Bill Moretti joined RiskSpan as a senior managing director and head of its SmartLink innovation lab. Over the course of his two-decade tenure as a senior investment executive with MetLife, Moretti became recognized as an innovative and energetic leader, strategic thinker, change agent, and savvy risk manager, RiskSpan said. As MetLife's head of global structured finance, he created proprietary analytical systems, which he paired with traditional fundamental credit analysis to maximize portfolio income and returns through market rallies while preserving investment capital during crises.
Cornerstone Research, a provider of economic and financial consulting and expert testimony, appointed Yesim C. Richardson president of the firm. Formerly a senior vice president at Cornerstone, Richardson will share leadership with CEO Rahul Guha. Richardson is a respected leader and mentor, with consulting and management experience that spans nearly two decades, Cornerstone stated. She served as head of Cornerstone Research's financial institutions practice and consulted on high-stakes litigation. Richardson is also a member of Cornerstone Research's board of directors, and has played active roles on several of the firm's governance committees. As president, she will oversee the firm's service delivery and talent strategies. Richardson will continue to consult with clients and support experts on litigation matters.
Biller Genie, an automated accounts receivable solution, expanded to Central Florida and hired fintech expert Garima Shah as its president. Thomas Aronica, CEO and founder of Biller Genie, said, "Under Garima's leadership, we are expanding our distribution and entering a new period of growth on our mission to make AR automation affordable and accessible, so business owners stay busy for the right reasons." With nearly two decades of fintech experience, Shah will oversee Biller Genie's corporate strategy, operations management and fundraising initiatives. Shah will also identifying and develop channel partners – such as financial institutions, integrated software partners and payments processors by adding value for clients who can benefit from Biller Genie's software-as-a-service. To serve a growing segment of those partners, Shah is also overseeing integrations with 25 additional accounting software platforms.
Consulting and analytics company The Strawhecker Group, which serves payments companies globally, appointed Mike Strawhecker as president of the firm, succeeding Kurt Strawhecker in that role. Kurt Strawhecker will continue as chairman of TSG's Board of Directors. "Mike has successfully pivoted TSG from a consulting-only firm to a consulting, analytics, and software company," said Kurt Strawhecker. "It was the right time to pass him the reins as we look forward to continuing to grow the firm in 2020 and beyond," added Jamie Savant, co-founder and partner at TSG. 
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