ANNOUNCEMENTSThe FIDO Alliance released new user experience (UX) guidelines to help accelerate adoption of passkeys. The FIDO Alliance UX Guidelines for Passkey Creation and Sign-ins aim to help online service providers design a better UX when signing in with passkeys. Based on FIDO standards, passkeys replace passwords and provide faster, easier, more secure sign-ins to websites and apps across a user's devices, the alliance stated.
Research performed for these guidelines indicates passkey sign-ins present a distinct user journey that service providers need to consider before providing passkey support. The guidelines are available at fidoalliance.org/ux-guidelines.
Fleetcor Technologies Inc. received a court order in the FTC marketing practices and disclosure case the commission filed against the company in December 2019. The FTC alleged that Fleetcor charged hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden and undisclosed fees to its customers after making false promises it could save them money on fuel costs.
The court order limits injunctive relief to Fleetcor’s fuel card business in the United States and requires the company to implement a set of disclosure practices, such as crediting customer payments on receipt date or providing notice to customers in advance of receiving a new fee. Fleetcor stated it will comply with the order and has already voluntarily implemented multiple disclosure enhancements.
SmartStream, a financial transaction lifecycle management solutions provider, heralded its latest version of SmartStream Air—with new AI functionality designed to onboard cash balances faster and more accurately, while improving cash reconciliations. The key unique selling proposition for SmartStream Air version 8 is for quick and easy onboarding of cash balances; plus, it provides a competitive advantage by outperforming slow, expensive and ineffective systems, the company stated.
Wink, a provider of multimodal biometric authentication and payments, was named Best of Show winner at FinovateSpring 2023. During a seven-minute, live on-stage demo, Wink's founder and CEO, Deepak Jain, showcased a user logging into their account on any device with a camera, while ensuring the security of their identity. Wink stated its innovation in areas of facial and voice recognition—especially with its new voice liveness detection technology—solidifies its position as an industry frontrunner.
RESEARCHThe U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC), a membership organization devoted to advancing safe, easy-to-use faster payments in the United States, published the third edition of the Cross-Border Payments Bulletin in its Faster Payments Knowledge Center. The FPC Cross-Border Payments Work Group developed this bulletin to further explore the effect of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on cross-border faster payments. The bulletin examines the CBDC market landscape, the distinction of wholesale versus retail distribution of CBDCs, and how liquidity management is orchestrated in the CBDC world. The bulletin also examines recent CBDC pilots and provides lessons learned from those and other research projects.
A new study from Juniper Research revealed that spending on unified threat management by enterprises will increase by 98 percent between 2023 and 2028 globally, from $7.5 billion in 2023. As the cyberthreat landscape becomes more complex, with growing enterprise cloud adoption, IoT devices being used and AI powering new threats, unified threat management is necessary to remain secure, Juniper stated, adding that enterprises will increase investment as they come to terms with the expanding threat landscape.
Unified threat management provides a single hardware or software installation that includes multiple security functions, Juniper noted.
Consumer demand for travel, leisure and other experiences remains strong despite increased cost of living, according to Paysafe's annual Lost in Transaction' study: Consumer Payment Trends 2023: How consumers' shifting priorities are impacting the experience economy. Paysafe surveyed 14,500 consumers across multiple world regions and found that 51 percent are prioritizing spend in these leisure areas over other discretionary spending.
Research also revealed that more than 27 percent of consumers are spending more on eating out and takeaways than they did before the cost-of-living crisis, 25 percent have increased spending on streaming services, and 17 percent are spending more on travel. Few respondents reported ending discretionary spending altogether: 7 percent eliminated spending on streaming services, for example.
PARTNERSHIPSAmazon and Affirm revealed that eligible U.S. merchants offering Amazon Pay can now seamlessly add Affirm's Adaptive Checkout as a payment option. This brings Affirm's pay-over-time technology to Amazon Pay's simple, secure payment solution, Affirm stated. Merchants using Affirm have reported 60 percent higher average order values when compared to other payment methods, Affirm added, noting it can also increase customer loyalty, as approximately 88 percent of Affirm purchases are from repeat Affirm users. Affirm's Adaptive Checkout offers bi-weekly and monthly pay-over-time options at checkout.
Flutterwave, a payments technology company based in Africa, collaborated with Token.io, an account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure provider based in Europe, to power pay by bank transfer capabilities for Flutterwave's platform. A2A payments are a fast and secure way to move money between bank accounts, and open banking-powered A2A payments do not require registration or error-prone data entry, making them a seamless payment method, the partners stated.
End-users authenticate A2A payments directly with their bank for a frictionless experience that also delivers higher success rates than market standards; plus, A2A payments cost merchants less than traditional payment methods and settle instantly, they noted.
Nuvei Corp. said it extended its partnership with online marketplace OnBuy to support the ecommerce platform's ambitious plans for 2023. OnBuy launched its integration of Nuvei for Platforms, an integrated solution for marketplaces, in 2022.
Nuvei for Platforms, the partners noted, provides access to enterprise-level payments solutions to small and midsize businesses by packaging the complete functionality of Nuvei's core modular platform into a single seamless integration. This includes merchant onboarding, pay-ins and payouts, optimization, orchestration, fraud prevention, risk management, and more. As part of the transition, OnBuy also introduced direct payments for sellers.
PayQuicker said it is strengthening its market-leading payouts orchestration platform, Payouts OS, by establishing new partnerships with Qolo, Fortress and Citcon. Qolo was selected as an issuing-processing partner for Payouts OS, to issue a more advanced suite of card products to meet the needs of corporate clients and small to midsize businesses paying out to gig workers and marketplace sellers, PayQuicker stated. Fortress, a Web3 infrastructure company that provides financial, regulatory and technological frameworks for blockchain innovators, will enable PayQuicker to offer clients a stablecoin wallet for payees that want an outlet for crypto. Citcon, a provider of in-store, online and mobile payment solutions, will unlock new outlets for PayQuicker's customers globally, the company noted.
ACQUISITIONSymphonyAI, a provider of high-value enterprise AI SaaS for strategic industries, acquired 1010data, a technology platform provider of decision science, data management and data analytics. 1010data brings its robust product portfolio, market presence and brand recognition to SymphonyAI's existing vertical solutions, SymphonyAI stated. Customers who rely on 1010data platform insights to make timely and accurate business decisions will gain additional value through important new product innovation for real-time and near-real-time analytics, the company added. Terms of the transaction, which is complete, were not disclosed.
APPOINTMENTSDigital River, a global ecommerce enabler, named John Burke its senior vice president of revenue. Burke will lead global sales and customer success teams to accelerate revenue growth for new and existing clients and determine a course of action to help achieve company goals. He will report directly to Digital River CEO Victor Pacor. Before joining Digital River, Burke held management positions at Deloitte LLP, Oracle Corp. and SAP Americas Inc., where he was responsible for the United States sales organization and led the formation of the CPG and Retail Global Centers of Expertise.
MagTek appointed Andrew "Andy" Deignan as president, chief executive officer, and chairman. Deignan brings an exceptional depth of experience spanning over two decades to his current role, having held a diverse range of senior leadership positions within the organization, the company stated. He recently served as the company's vice president of global marketing and strategy, demonstrating his ability to drive success in strategic and global contexts. With a consistent track record of accomplishment as a distinguished leader in product development, sales and marketing, Deignan's extensive tenure at MagTek demonstrates his suitability to steer the company through the ever-evolving and fast-paced business landscape of today, MagTek noted.
Kevin Emery signed on as Iliad Solutions' chief commercial officer. He will oversee commercial activities globally, sales and marketing in existing markets, and new market development. Emery brings a wealth of innovative strategies and experience in the payment industry to Iliad Solutions, Iliad noted. He spent more than 20 years in the payments market working for solution providers, as well as payment schemes, like Mastercard and Discover. He joins Iliad from UL Solutions, where he oversaw commercial organizations globally, driving profitable growth, and solution selling with a data-driven approach.
Guy Harris is now chairman of Chargeback911's board, and Eric M. Hoffman joined him as a board member. With a combined 50+ years' experience within the payments space, Harris and Hoffman will bring unmatched leadership, expertise, and proven operational know-how to Chargebacks911, the company stated. Harris' appointment follows his recent retirement as head of merchant services at Bank of America.
His leadership, Chargebacks911 noted, was fundamental to the development of the bank's next-generation merchant services solutions. Hoffman, former director of Apple Pay business development, is president of Interbank Solutions. He will lead strategic initiatives and scale out the go-to-market strategy globally.
Following its acquisition by Zopa Bank, DivideBuy appointed Amanda Robinson as its new enterprise business development manager. Sales specialist Robinson brings a wealth of experience with an impressive track record gained in merchant acquiring, the company stated. Starting her career at Sears Financial Services, she has held a series of senior sales management roles at HFC Bank, Experian, merchant acquirer First Data (now part of Fiserv) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance. Robinson is expected to play a key role in partnering with enterprise merchants to offer DivideBuy's upcoming suite of consumer finance products.
POPcodes elevated Ben Stevenson from vice president of development to chief technology officer. Since joining the team in 2014, Stevenson has been an integral part of POPcodes' growth and a driver in the evolution of its product development, the company stated. As CTO, Stevenson will continue to lead the strategy behind building POPcodes' cloud and app-based platform, including design, development, operations and support. Stevenson, POPcodes added, has been a long-time leader in Calgary's tech community. In 2012, he was a founder of the YYC Dev! Group, and he co-organized the Polyglot Alberta "un-conference" in spring of 2015. 
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