RETAIL BRIEFSANNOUNCEMENTSACI Worldwide was recognized as a top 20 IDC Financial Insights 2015 FinTech Rankings company. Moving up two places since last year, ACI is now ranked 18th on an international list of financial technology companies. Now in its 12th year, the IDC Financial Insights FinTech Rankings categorize and evaluate the top global providers of financial technology based on calendar year revenues from financial institutions for hardware, software or services.
CapX Partners closed a loan facility that will aid the growth of Ziosk, creator of what it touts as the first ordering, entertainment and pay-at-the-table tablet. The funding will support agreements with Olive Garden and other restaurant brands. "We are thrilled to have CapX supporting Ziosk and our restaurant partners, and this financing further supports our mission to revolutionize pay-at-the-table solutions at restaurants," stated Ziosk Chairman and co-founder Jack Baum.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order against Coinflip Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer, Francisco Riordan. The order relates to noncompliant activity the company initiated related to commodity options transactions and connecting buyers and sellers of bitcoin option contracts. Under the order, Coinflip and Riordan are required to cease and desist from further violations and comply with specified undertakings.
The Electronic Transactions Association hosted the Payments Fly-In on Capitol Hill, where more than 70 payments and technology industry leaders met members of Congress and federal regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Reserve and U.S. Department of the Treasury, to discuss payments industry issues. The event was organized to give ETA members the chance to speak directly with legislators and policymakers in an effort to provide them with insights on the industry and its impact on the U.S. economy.
Harbortouch Payments LLC was named the winner of a Gold Stevie Award in the Mobile Shopping App category for its Perkwave mobile payment and loyalty application at the 2015 American Business Awards. The company was also honored with a Silver Stevie Award in the Business-to-Business Products category for its Echo POS system. This recognition marks the third time Harbortouch has been honored by the American Business Awards.
Leading payment processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc. introduced Heartland SecureSubmit, a data protection solution devised for e-commerce merchants to use to protect sensitive consumer cardholder data entered via a consumer's browser.
"Heartland SecureSubmit allows merchants to quickly and seamlessly integrate cardholder data encryption and tokenization into their respective e-commerce websites and checkout pages without redirection or loss of brand identity," the company stated. "All exchanges of sensitive data occur directly between the consumer and Heartland. A shopper's personal account information or sensitive data does not touch the merchant's servers and helps minimize an e-commerce merchant's total cost of payment acceptance."
Technology solutions and payment processing services provider Jack Henry & Associates Inc. confirmed its JHA Payment Solutions group is now processing MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. EMV debit cards, and will soon support Discover Financial Services debit cards. JHA Payment Solutions said it has been processing EMV credit transactions for more than four years and is committed to large-scale EMV debit implementations and to helping its financial institution clients be ahead of the industry pace for EMV card issuance.
NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association's new ACH Network Risk and Enforcement Rule was activated Sept. 18, 2015, to help improve the overall quality of the automated clearing house (ACH) network by reducing the incidence of ACH transactions that result in exceptions and returns. "The Rule demonstrates the value of the financial industry coming together through private-sector rulemaking to address practices that may result in harm to consumers," said Janet O. Estep, President and CEO of NACHA.
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions issued a statement in response to the certification of a class action lawsuit brought by a group of financial institutions against Target Corp. following the retailer's huge 2013 data breach. "NAFCU is pleased with the court's decision to certify financial institutions as a class in the data breach suit against Target," said NAFCU's Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt.
As part of its ongoing work to notify individuals affected by the theft of background investigation records, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Department of Defense identified archived records containing additional fingerprint data not previously analyzed. Of the individuals affected by the breach, the subset of individuals whose fingerprints were stolen increased from a total of approximately 1.1 million to approximately 5.6 million.
Samsung Electronics America Inc. launched Samsung Pay in the United States Sept. 28, 2015, after launching in Korea Aug. 20. The company intends to bring the service to China, Spain and the U.K., as well. "Samsung Pay works with almost any card terminal from day one, and Galaxy owners can shop with a wallet they never knew was always in their hands," said Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics, Global Head of Samsung Pay.
The company said Samsung Pay will work on Galaxy S6, S6 edge, Note5 and S6 edge+ devices operating on the AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular networks. Initially, consumers need a participating MasterCard, Visa or American Express Co. card issued by Bank of America, Citibank, AmEx or U.S. Bank. Samsung Pay also offers merchant credit cards through Synchrony Financial and works with acquirers including First Data Corp., Global Payments Inc. and Total System Services Inc.
Shopify Inc. launched its sixth Build a Business Competition, the world's largest entrepreneurial contest challenging those with great business ideas to start a business and begin selling. This year, Shopify is partnering with the New York Stock Exchange to give five entrepreneurs the chance to ring The Opening Bell at the NYSE and spend five days at Oheka Castle (The Great Gatsby mansion) in Long Island, New York, alongside other celebrated entrepreneurs.
Verifone continues to receive reports that scammers are posing as Verifone Help Desk agents and asking customers to "test" their payment terminals with phone cards. The company issued a statement reminding merchants this is not Verifone's standard practice. It is also urging customers to beware of Verifone Help Desk impersonators, always verify unsolicited callers and report any fraudulent solicitation of personal information.
RESEARCHThe results of a recent Coupofy.com study indicate there will be 1.05 billion mobile coupon users by 2019, and at its current rate, mobile shopping will increase 42 percent between 2013 and 2016. Mobile shoppers are projected to spend a total of $600 billion by 2018, which is four times that of 2014 spending. The rise in mobile shopping is linked to a general rise in mobile usage globally, with users noting convenience and speed as the top reasons for using such apps, researchers noted.
According to the 2015 Global Fraud Survey published by the Merchant Risk Council, 82 percent of respondents in the study reported they currently manage online fraud through internal blacklists; another 6 percent reported they plan to do so in the next year. In a responding statement, eConsumerServices warned that blacklists can be an oversimplified solution and may prevent legitimate consumers from making purchases, harming both consumers and merchants in the long run.
The First Advantage 2015 Cybersecurity Survey polled a variety of professionals including human resources personnel, risk management staff and C-suite executives about their attitudes toward internal and external security threats. Respondents placed employee background screening at the top of the list, even above the use of anti-malware programs and physical security. Anti-malware was ranked second, with physical security and physical access controls ranked third.
According to an HRC Advisory report, retailers are working hard to transform their supply chains to a customer-centric, omnichannel model, but 80 percent are not prepared for the magnitude of change required. This finding was revealed as part of HRC's latest retail industry study, which found that expensive online returns, cannibalization of in-store sales and outdated systems are among the challenges restraining retailers.
The 2015 Mobile Payment Security Study from ISACA suggests cybersecurity professionals are willing to balance mobile payment benefits with perceived security risks. "ISACA members, who are some of the most cyber-aware professionals in the world, are using mobile payments while simultaneously identifying and contemplating their potential security risks." said John Pironti, Risk Advisor with ISACA and President of IP Architects LLC.
The LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud study revealed merchants are overwhelmed by increased revenue losses due to fraud. The annual study showed a drastic upswing in retail fraud: merchants lost 1.32 percent of revenue to fraud in 2015, compared with 0.68 percent in 2014. While all merchant segments took a substantial hit on fraud losses, international and mobile commerce merchants were hardest hit, with 1.56 percent and 1.68 percent lost, respectively.
PARTNERSHIPSParkHub.com, a technology company serving the global parking industry, selected Blue Star Payment Solutions LLC as a preferred processing partner within its Parking Revenue Inventory Management Enterprise (PRIME) mobile POS platform. PRIME is built for the unique needs of parking lot attendants and operators, the companies noted. Blue Star Payment Solutions plans to deliver the backend functionalities that work with PRIME's software and hardware.
Easy Pay Solutions Inc. and Wellero partnered to offer medical providers an efficient way to improve patient collections and save front-office staff time and resources. The partnership gives providers access to Wellero, a streamlined insurance verification tool, and access to the Easy Pay Solutions' payment processing tool to improve patient collections, the companies said.
edo Interactive and Rewards Network established a multiyear partnership to market restaurants in the Rewards Network's portfolio to cardholders in edo's Prewards network. The partnership is designed to leverage edo's patented card-linking technology to deliver discounts to cardholders, tailored to their spending habits, and backed by data-driven insights. Cardholders are automatically enrolled in the program through their banks and can access offers via desktop, tablet or mobile devices.
Elavon Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. agreed to extend their relationship to offer payment processing solutions to Costco's array of small to midsize business (SMB) customers. "Since 1997, Elavon has delivered exceptional value and service to members who use our payment processing as well as our other popular business products," said Tom Padilla, Assistant Vice President, Costco Services. "Our members will continue to benefit from our relationship with Elavon."
Intuit Inc. partnered with OnDeck Capital Inc. to launch the new QuickBooks Financing Line of Credit to provide faster access to lower-rate SMB loans. This first-of-its-kind financing solution enables small businesses to use their QuickBooks Online data to apply for loan offers with the click of a button, OnDeck noted. Intuit and OnDeck said they will also launch a new $100 million small business lending fund to back the new product.
A recent partnership between iversity and Paymentwall Inc. enables students and professionals around the world to make payments, even if they do not have a credit card or a PayPal account, by using local payment options such as Sofort, Paysafecard, iDeal, Webmoney, and more. "It will now become even easier for our users to purchase a certificate that provides documentation of what they learned," said Hannes Klöpper, CEO of iversity.
Priority Payment Systems and PayRight Health Solutions LLC partnered to help improve patient payment education and financial management. Under the agreement, Priority will license PayRight's healthcare payment technology to power Priority's MX Medical and MX Home Care solutions, providing comprehensive tools for identifying patient eligibility and responsibility combined with a wide variety of payment options, according to the companies.
Xero Inc. and Shopify partnered to release an integrated solution that will give Shopify merchants the ability to track business financials using Xero's online accounting software. The combined Xero and Shopify solution will automate and help streamline commerce and accounting processes for retailers ahead of the busy holiday season. The solution eliminates the manual transfer of financial data between front-end and back-end systems, enabling a one-click automated process, Shopify stated.
ACQUISITIONSBTCS Inc. and Spondoolies-Tech Ltd. entered into a definitive merger agreement. The agreement was unanimously approved and adopted by the boards of directors of both BTCS and Spondoolies. Under terms of the agreement, BTCS shareholders will own a 55.4 to 54.4 percent stake in the combined company and Spondoolies shareholders will own a 44.6 to 45.6 percent of the combined company.
Mozido Inc. finalized the acquisition of digital commerce company CorFire, with Mozido owning 80 percent of the company and parent company SK Holdings Co. Ltd. retaining 20 percent ownership. Through this acquisition, Mozido increased its capabilities by incorporating CorFire's technology platform and blue chip customer base, which includes many of the largest mobile network operators around the world that collectively serve more than 1.5 billion subscribers, Mozido said.
ShopKeep.com Inc. reported that it acquired Ambur, an iPad and iPhone POS system used in more than 1,500 restaurants. Founded by former restaurateurs Ansar Khan and James O'Leary, Ambur provides a feature-rich set of options specifically designed for full-service, quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, as well as bars and food trucks. Khan has joined ShopKeep's business development team, and the acquisition brings the company's merchant base to more than 20,000, ShopKeep noted.
APPOINTMENTSPayscape Advisors released the names of its first Board of Directors. Included are the company's co-founders, Adam Bloomston and Jeremy Wing; Jon Ziglar, CEO at Parkmobile LLC; Dan Speight, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer at State Bank & Trust Co.; and Steve Kane, Senior Executive & General Counsel at Sterling Payment Technologies LLC. The company also increased it executive staff and acquired Vendevor, an e-commerce platform.
ShopKeep appointed Andrew Gorrin as it Chief Marketing Officer. In his role leading the company's marketing and communications departments, Gorrin will guide the company's merchant acquisition strategy and determine its brand positioning. He will report to ShopKeep President and CEO Norm Merritt. Previously, Gorrin held leading positions with Brodeur Worldwide, American Express Co. and Dove Consulting Group Inc.
Ingenico Group named Grégory Lambertie as Vice President of Strategy and M&A. Lambertie will oversee strategic planning and the execution of merger and acquisition activity. He will report to Pierre-Antoine Vacheron, Ingenico's Executive Vice President of Strategy, Finance & Performance. "I am pleased to welcome Grégory Lambertie," Vacheron said. "His expertise in investment banking and financial markets will be an asset for the group, aligned with its leading position in the payment industry, as well as its development objectives."
Himanshu Patel was appointed Chief Financial Officer at First Data. Patel has served as First Data's Executive Vice President of Strategy, Planning & Business Development since June 2013. "With Himanshu in this new role, First Data will have a world-class executive with an in-depth knowledge of both the financial community and payments industry as we approach the next chapter of our transformation," said Frank Bisignano, Chairman and CEO of First Data. 
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