ANNOUNCEMENTS New York-based fintech company Boost Payment Solutions Inc. completed a round of growth strategy funding financed by San Francisco-based Mosaik Partners. The Boost Intercept business-to-business (B2B) gateway platform transforms email-based virtual card notifications into straight-through processed payments, and with its B2B-specific reporting capabilities, remittance data can be integrated within existing enterprise resource planning platforms, the company noted.
The Buckle Inc. retail fashion chain experienced a security incident in which a criminal entity accessed guest credit card information following purchases at certain locations. Third-party forensic experts were able to identify and remove POS malware, which may have affected certain cards used in stores from Oct. 28, 2016 to April 14, 2017. According to Buckle, at the time of the incident, POS systems at all 462 stores were EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) enabled.
CardinalCommerce won the Ohio Venture Association 2016 Venture of the Year Award. The winning venture, which was selected by the Board of Trustees for the northeast Ohio business professional network, highlights successful entrepreneurial activity in Ohio. "Our team is proud to be recognized for our dedication to fostering business growth in the community in which we operate." said Tim Sherwin, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of CardinalCommerce.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking comment on proposed updates to its prepaid rule. The CFPB issued the prepaid rule in 2016, requiring financial institutions to limit consumer losses, investigate and resolve errors, offer free and easy access to account information, and provide protections. The proposal would adjust requirements for resolving errors on unregistered accounts and provide greater flexibility for cards linked to digital wallets.
EY awarded Clearent LLC founder and CEO Dan Geraty the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Award in the Central Midwest. The award recognizes entrepreneurs who excel in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Geraty was selected by an independent panel of judges. As a regional winner, he is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 national program.
Federal Reserve System Payments Strategy Director Gordon Werkema will officially retire in September. During his tenure, Werkema was instrumental in developing the Federal Reserve's 2015 Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System, a plan to support five specific strategies for ensuring consumer and business access to an efficient, real-time and secure national payments network, according to the Fed.
Pearl Capital Business Funding LLC closed a $15 million financing round from Chatham Capital. Through its national origination platform, Pearl provides alternative financial solutions to small and midsize businesses that are unable to access sufficient funding from banks and nonbank lenders, the company stated. In 2015, Pearl was acquired by Capital Z Partners, a private equity investor serving the financial services industry.
For the fourth consecutive year, Total System Services Inc. earned a spot on Points of Light's The Civic 50, a national standard that recognizes superior corporate citizenship and showcases companies that use their time, skills and resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business. "I take tremendous pride in seeing our company recognized for this honor," said M. Troy Woods, Chairman and CEO of TSYS.
Vantiv Inc. won the 2017 NAFCU Innovation Award for its fraud protection solution, OmniShield, which uses advanced software to trigger real-time alerts when fraudulent transactions are suspected. The award comes on the heels of an internal analysis of Mastercard data by Vantiv that showed Gross Fraud Basis Points for Vantiv issuers were 32 percent below the industry average, with fewer fraudulent transactions per card, on average, than U.S. issuers overall.
Worldpay launched the first extended-trial of a software-only card payment mobile POS application. My Business Mobile will enable businesses to download an app and accept face-to-face contactless card transactions on their smartphones without requiring additional payments hardware. "By taking hardware out of the equation, we are really bringing payments into the future," said Nick Telford-Reed, Director of Technology Innovation at Worldpay.
RESEARCHA recent International Monetary Fund Staff Discussion Paper entitled Fintech and Financial Services: Initial Considerations offers insights on fintech's role in response to consumer demand for trust, security, privacy and services in the changing competitive landscape. Key findings and observations in the paper include blurred market boundaries, changing barriers to entry, a continued need for trust, and improving cross-border payment technologies.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers global report,Redrawing the lines: Fintech's growing influence on financial services, gleaned insights from over 1,300 senior financial services and fintech executives spanning 71 countries. Of those surveyed, 82 percent expected to increase fintech partnerships in the next three to five years, while 77 percent planned to adopt blockchain as part of a production system or process by 2020.
PARTNERSHIPSAliant Payment Systems entered into a strategic processing relationship with Merchant e-Solutions Inc., a Cielo company and provider of global payment solutions. The relationship will allow Aliant to expand its client roster to include ecommerce, travel and B2B companies. Aliant's Independent Software Vendor (ISV) program will also benefit from Merchant e-Solutions' ability to quickly implement custom integrations, the company said.
CSI globalVCard partnered with AmTrav Corporate Travel, an established provider of corporate travel management solutions, bringing the benefits and security of CSI globalVCard's virtual credit card payments to the AmTrav online booking tool. The partnership gives existing CSI globalVCard users instant access to a travel management solution and when paired with the CSI globalVCard mobile app offers functionality and control to travelers after the booking process.
To assist merchants who sell weight-based items, GiftLogic integrated its GiftLogic 2017 POS software with the 6700U Series Brecknell POS Bench Scales, which have a total weight capacity of 30 pounds. GiftLogic 2017 alerts cashiers during checkout when designated items are to be sold by weight at which point the cashier scans the item and places it on the scale for the system to calculate cost and populate the transaction accordingly, the company said.
MIS teams with Jackson Lewis on security
Merchants Information Solutions Inc. and Jackson Lewis P.C. formed an alliance whereby members enrolled in MIS' SmartIDentity for Business plan can engage cybersecurity experts and breach coaches at Jackson Lewis to provide legal counsel in the event of a data incident. "We feel confident that the advice and counsel that Jackson Lewis provides will be invaluable for our members who experience a data incident," said Russ Johnson, President and CEO of MIS.
NAB Velocity, North American Bancard Holdings LLC's front-end omnichannel payments platform, now offers the RedfoxPOS point-of-sale system and web-based online ordering platform to merchants. The software-as-a-service (SasS)-based offering from RedfoxPOS allows restaurants to make online ordering available through their website or Facebook page, the company said. NAB Velocity also partnered with POS and business management system provider SalesVu to deliver a fully integrated EMV solution.
PandaDoc expanded its partnership with Stripe to provide quote and contract-to-payment functionality within the PandaDoc document automation platform to clients utilizing Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments. "Adding Automated Clearing House payments via Stripe will give our customers a superior experience by enabling low-cost, instant payments and an error-free contract-to-payment process," stated PandaDoc CEO Mikita Mikado.
As a BigCommerce Certified Technology Partner, Pulse Commerce now offers BigCommerce customers access to its enterprise order and inventory platform through the BigCommerce App Marketplace. "BigCommerce Enterprise, coupled with our Order & Inventory Platform, evens the playing field for multichannel and omnichannel merchants of all sizes, enabling them to hold their own against their largest competitors," said Pulse Commerce CEO Manish Chowdhary.
Online small business funding provider RapidAdvance partnered with iPayment Inc. Under terms of the agreement, iPayment will offer RapidAdvance's business lending solutions and alternative financing programs to merchant customers. iPayment will also leverage RapidAdvance's technology-driven platform and personalized support to increase visibility.
Recondo Technology partnered with HealthPay24 to integrate patient cost estimation with payment processing services at each point of service. The partnership is expected to provide hospitals and patients with the information needed to conduct quick, transparent payment collections. "Now, hospitals can easily collect payments from healthcare consumers at any point of service, accelerating highly accurate, earlier collections," stated Jay Deady, CEO at Recondo.
Shift4 Corp. integrated its Dollars on the Net payment gateway with the Oracle Payment Interface (OPI). The integration will provide fast, secure and reliable payment processing to merchants using Oracle's POS and property management solutions, the partners said. Shift4's U.S. EMV certification with OPI supports chip-and-PIN, chip-and-signature and Quick Chip verification methods and offers the ability to use a number of EMV-capable payment devices.
SmartCard Marketing Systems Inc. teamed with CardLogix Corp. to integrate its cloud-hosted payment architecture with CardLogix' smart card platforms. SmartCard Marketing also partnered with Axepay Inc. to deliver China cross-border RMB payments, as well as Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering services for merchants dealing with Chinese customers.
USAePay formed a strategic partnership with Actum Processing LLC, an ACH payment solutions provider that enables resellers and software providers to expand their client base and retain relationships. Partnering with USAePay will allow Actum to appeal to a greater number of subscribers as they work together to identify methods that optimize ACH performance and minimizes risk for merchants, the companies noted.
WEX Inc. forged an alliance with fuel-price and gas station locator app provider GasBuddy to focus on the retail gasoline market and deliver innovations that bring added convenience and savings to U.S. consumer drivers. The alliance also represents a continued focus by WEX to expand the company's offering to the business-to-business-to-consumer market. "We are excited to partner with GasBuddy to explore bringing new levels of convenience and value to the marketplace," said Nicola Morris, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at WEX.
ACQUISITIONSFiserv Inc. reached agreement on terms of a recommended cash offer to acquire Monitise plc. The acquisition is expected to accelerate Fiserv's digital strategy and development of a next-generation digital banking platform for leading financial institutions worldwide. Through the acquisition, anticipated to close in Q3 2017, Fiserv will expand its suite of technologies, including FINkit, that enable financial institutions to accelerate digital strategies.
Misys and D+H joined forces to create a diversified global financial software provider named Finastra. The combination creates the third largest financial services technology company in the world with approximately 10,000 employees and over 9,000 customers across 130 countries. The move follows the acquisition of D+H by Vista Equity Partners Management LLC, which also owns Misys. Finastra will be led by Nadeem Syed in the role of CEO, previously CEO of Misys.
HalCash North America, operating as Pin4 in the United States market since its launch in 2015, acquired majority equity ownership in HalCash International. Madrid-based HCI is the developer and owner of the HalCash system – a patented, mobile-phone-based technology that enables real-time cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs without requiring a credit or debit card or bank account.
Following the 2016 acquisitions of fintech companies Fast Notas and Aceita Facil, Sao Paulo, Brazil-based subscription, recurring billing and payment solutions company Vindi has merged with Smartbill. Smartbill is also a Sao Paulo-based subscription management system provider. While terms of the merger were not disclosed, combining the two companies will consolidate the market for payments focused on the service sector in Latin America, the companies said.
APPOINTMENTSMerchant Lynx Services appointed Adam Ackerman to the role of National ISO Channel Director. In his new role, Ackerman will oversee the strategic development, implementation and growth for the company's ISO channel. Ackerman brings over 10 years payments industry experience and proven leadership in development of sales teams.
Singular Payments LLC added a new Chief Product Officer, Ben Kauder, to lead the company's innovation and strategy initiatives and advance Singular's business model shift, which began in the fall of 2016, to focus on opportunities within the ISV market. Kauder brings a decade of experience in the electronic payments and SaaS product development space, previously serving as Channel Development Manager focusing on Payfac and Integrated Payments at Vantiv.
Upstream promoted Guy Krief to the position of CEO, as former CEO and co-founder Marco Veremis assumes a new role as Executive Chairman of the Board. Krief joined Upstream in 2004 and has worked in product and innovation roles, serving most recently as Chief Innovation Officer. The firm also promoted Natalia Mila to Chief Technology Officer. A software engineer, Mila previously served as Head of Engineering and Chief Architect at Upstream.
Healthcare payments technology firm Patientco appointed Alan Nalle as Chief Strategy Officer. Nalle will focus on guiding Patientco's long-term strategy to grow its market share as a provider of next-generation patient billing and payment technology for enterprise health systems. Nalle will work to expand Patientco's consumer-friendly billing experience and continue to build strong relationships between consumers and provider clients, the company said.
Hospitality software solutions and services provider Agilysys Inc. named Tony Pritchett as Chief Financial Officer. Pritchett has served as Agilysys's Interim CFO since November 2016. Ramesh Srinivasan, President and CEO of Agilysys, said, "During his time as Interim CFO and in various previous senior finance roles, Tony has done terrific work for Agilysys and has consistently demonstrated his ability to be our CFO and one of our key leaders."
BillingTree hired Bryan Schreiber as Chief Financial Officer to oversee the company's expansion plans in new and existing focus markets. The company also welcomed Kathy Baker as Director of Risk and Underwriting and Steve Recchia as Director of Sales. "The newest members to the BillingTree team reflect both the success the company is experiencing and our commitment to supporting the ongoing needs of our current and future customers," said Edgars Sturans, President and CEO of BillingTree.
MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc. welcomed Michael Schuck as Chief Sales Officer and Johnny Hawa as Chief Operating Officer. Schuck has more than 30 years of experience in banking and financial services, most recently serving as President of Omnico Solutions, a financial services consulting company. Hawa, co-founder of MOBI724 Solutions (Couponing) has more than 25 years of experience in setting up organizations focused on sales and delivery.
Webgility Inc. added Kinnar Vora to its executive leadership team as Vice President of Engineering. Vora was hired to help the rapidly growing engineering team continue to innovate and scale its solutions to meet the increasing demands of its customers in the retail sector. "Kinnar's expertise combined with his background in growing engineering teams – including remote teams – will be essential as we continue to scale our company and its resources to meet market demand," said Parag Mamnani, founder and CEO of Webgility.
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