ANNOUNCEMENTSOn Dec. 11, 2017, five days after Discover Financial Services revealed that as of April 2018, it will no longer require signatures at the POS, American Express Co. said it, too, is eliminating the requirement for merchants to collect card members' signatures for all POS transactions starting in April 2018. The move, which applies globally to all AmEx-accepting merchants, will help provide a more consistent and simplified checkout experience for merchants and card members in regions around the world, speed up the process of paying in store and help reduce merchants' operating expenses associated with retaining signatures, the company stated.
BlueStar, a global distributor of digital identification, mobility, POS, RFID, digital signage and security technology solutions, reported that the PCI Security Standards Council certified BlueStar to provide point-to-point encryption (P2PE) key injections. "This P2PE attestation of validation adds BlueStar to one of only 18 key injection facilities across the globe who can provide this service," BlueStar said. "BlueStar will continue to work exclusively with value-added resellers and offer a one-stop-shop for the channel's most comprehensive mPOS and traditional POS In-a-Box solutions."
Chargeback Gurus, a provider of e-commerce chargeback and fraud prevention solutions, said its CEO Srii Srinivasan has recently been heralded by three organizations. She received the FinTech Entrepreneur of the Year – USA in the Finance Monthly FinTech Awards 2018. Those awards acknowledge individuals, firms, startups and banks that are recognized as leaders in their area of expertise. Srinivasan was also named among Innovate Finance's Women in FinTech Powerlist, a list that celebrates women shaping the fintech sector. And she was shortlisted for the upcoming Women in IT Awards USA 2018 for Entrepreneur of the Year. Organized by Information Age, the Women in IT program provides a high-profile platform for celebrating women in IT and identifying new female role models in the industry, Chargeback Gurus added.
The Independent Community Bankers of America filed a lawsuit against Equifax Inc. for its recent breach of 145.5 million consumer records and 209,000 payment cards. Bank of Zachary, La., and First State Bank in Barboursville, W.Va., joined ICBA in the suit. ICBA's lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to require Equifax to compensate all community banks harmed by the breach and to improve its security to avoid additional harm to the consumers and local communities that community banks serve, the ICBA stated.
Mastercard welcomed its largest, most diverse class to the Mastercard Start Path program – the company's global effort to support later-stage fintech and tech startups, which was launched in 2014. The 11 selected companies from across five countries are developing new ways to use blockchain, protect digital identity, digitize donations and manage healthcare data, among other solutions, Mastercard stated.
Louisville, Ky.,-based ATM provider Payment Alliance International was named 2017 Business of the Year in the very large company category by business journal Louisville Business First, PAI stated, adding it was honored for demonstrating business excellence, market leadership and community involvement. "Throughout the years, PAI has been blessed with a talented team of committed employees and some of the most loyal customers found anywhere," said PAI co-founder John J. Leehy. "It is their hard work and dedication which serves as the real foundation for PAI's impressive run of growth and success."
RESEARCHIn Fintech Futures: Market Disruption, Leading Innovations & Emerging Opportunities 2017-2022, Juniper Research ranked the top five leaders in the emerging fintech sector, which Juniper values at $223 billion by revenue in 2018, and $411 billion by 2022, growing at an average annual rate of 16.5 percent, according to the report. Juniper assigned the No. 1 spot to GoCardless, followed by Onfido (2), Square (3), Lemonade (4) and Kabbage (5).
Technical body EMVCo published transaction data showing that 58.9 percent of card-present contact and contactless transactions globally were EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa)-enabled between July 2016 and June 2017. This represents an increase over the prior year, when 42.4 percent of transactions were EMV-enabled. The data reflects average transaction volumes over a 12-month period to account for seasonal variations. Given the ongoing rate of EMV chip technology adoption, EMVCo acknowledged that real-time figures for transaction volumes today are likely to be higher than the reported June 2017 figure.
Juniper Research drew up a list of the top trends for the technology industry for 2018. The top five on the list are 1. Amazon and Facebook lead over the top bids for major sporting rights; 2. Apple, Facebook and Google bring social payments to the masses; 3. AI and blockchain power numerous fintech and insurance solutions; 4. Edge computing fast tracks the Internet of Things; 5. Facial recognition applications surge. A free report and slide series detailing the findings are available to download at www.juniperresearch.com/document-library/white-papers/juniper-research-top-10-tech-trends-for-2018.
New research from Ovum revealed that North American commercial banks are continuing to increase their investment in real-time payments (RTP). The report The rise of real-time payments in North America, commissioned by Icon Solutions is based on responses from more than 7,000 chief information officers and other senior IT decision makers. "The study shows that while implementing RTP infrastructures later than global peers, U.S. and Canadian institutions are looking beyond the basic implementation of new payment rails," Ovum noted. "Instead, banks are also investing in services such as artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile banking based on real-time account data, recognizing that RTP is an important strategic opportunity ahead of open banking."
PARTNERSHIPSBlackbaud Inc., a cloud software company powering social good, revealed plans to integrate its cloud fundraising and engagement solutions with Facebook fundraising solutions. Blackbaud, Facebook and three enterprise nonprofits—Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Susan G. Komen—worked closely on the pilot program that took advantage of the new Facebook Fundraisers application programming interface. Blackbaud simultaneously delivered features to automatically give nonprofits seamless access and control over their Facebook fundraising tools, the partners noted.
FIS, a provider of financial services and payment technology, disclosed that Fifth Third Bank selected FIS to enable real-time payments through The Clearing House's RTP, a real-time payments system designed to allow consumers and businesses in the United States to send and receive payments instantly. The bank is expected to go live with RTP in early 2018. "RTP promises to fundamentally transform the payments landscape in the United States," said Anthony Jabbour, Chief Operating Officer for FIS. "We are excited to be working with TCH and our banking clients to realize the benefits of this breakthrough new system."
Garmin International Inc. and Fit Pay Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NXT-ID Inc. said the Garmin Pay contactless payment feature is now available for eligible Visa credit, debit and prepaid accounts from many of the network's major participating issuing banks. The new feature on Garmin's latest smartwatch, the vívoactive 3, enables consumers to make highly secure contactless payments at near field communication (NFC)-enabled POS terminals, allowing them to tap to pay at millions of retail locations and contactless-enabled ATMs, according to Garmin.
NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association selected Bottomline Technologies Paymode-X as a preferred partner for business-to-business (B2B) payments. NACHA preferred partners are a select group of providers and innovators that contribute to NACHA's strategic efforts and the payments ecosystem by removing friction, increasing ease, accessibility and efficiency, or supporting sound risk management and security for ACH payments, the association said, adding that Bottomline Technologies makes complex business payments simple, smart and secure.
Plooto Inc., a provider of electronic payment solutions, extended its partnership with Xero Ltd., an online small business technology company. The existing integration enables accountants to sync bills and invoices from Xero into Plooto, pay electronically through Plooto and auto-reconcile the payments back into Xero. The new integration between Xero HQ and Plooto will provide accountants and bookkeepers with real-time updates on the status of their clients' invoices and payments, the partners said.
ACQUISITIONSFirst Data Corp. completed the acquisition of BluePay Holdings Inc. BluePay provides technology-enabled payment processing for merchants in the United States and Canada and was one of First Data's largest distribution partners. "The addition of BluePay's integrated card-not-present solutions to CardConnect's cutting-edge ISV product suite affords First Data a unique and comprehensive offering in the high-growth integrated payments space," said First Data Chairman and CEO, Frank Bisignano. "Importantly, this acquisition will also allow us to enhance our service offerings to our JV alliances and other distribution partners."
Jack Henry & Associates Inc., a provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry, entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of California-based Ensenta Corp., a provider of real-time, cloud-based solutions for mobile and online payments and deposits. Founded in 2001, Ensenta supports more than 1,100 financial institutions and government agencies with patented technologies across ATM, mobile, online desktop, merchant and branch channels; upon closing the transaction, Jack Henry and Ensenta will collectively support approximately 2,300 financial institutions with consumer remote deposit capture services, Jack Henry stated.
WePay reported it is now officially a Chase company, after JPMorgan Chase completed its acquisition. WePay will continue to provide integrated payments to global software platforms like Freshbooks and Constant Contact, and with the backing of the nation's largest financial institution as part of the Chase family, it will provide instant merchant onboarding and give software developers and partners access to Chase's network of 4 million small business clients, WePay stated.
WePay CEO Bill Clerico and his executive team will continue to lead the company, working alongside Chase Merchant Services CEO Matt Kane and his leadership team.
APPOINTMENTSSage Payment Solutions, a provider of payment processing and merchant acquiring solutions in North America, made strategic additions to its executive leadership team. Gregory "Greg" Cohen, with an impressive 22-year career leading payments and commerce organizations, joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. Darrell Winfield, an industry technology leader who built payment platforms and IT-based solutions for organizations globally, is the new Chief Information Officer.
The Federal Reserve System appointed Kenneth Montgomery as its Payments Security Strategy Leader. In this role, he will lead the Federal Reserve's effort to reduce fraud risk and advance the safety, security and resiliency of the U.S. payment system. He will chair the Secure Payments Task Force. Montgomery, First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, has an "extensive background in information technology" and a "collaborative leadership style" that will be critical to addressing a variety of important challenges ahead, Fed representatives said.
iPayment, Inc., a provider of payment and processing solutions for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), recently appointed William (Bill) Wade, CEO and founder of Company.com, to its board of directors. "Wade is a seasoned technology executive with a deep background in payments, online commerce and financial services," iPayment stated. "Over the course of his 27-year career, Wade has developed and led rapidly growing business environments that address emerging market opportunities with paradigm-shifting business models." 
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