- Drug store chain Walgreens announced it is enabling online SNAP/EBT payment acceptance via Instacart nationwide at more than 7,500 Walgreens stores, including more than 100 Duane Reade stores in New York. Most Walgreens locations already accept SNAP/EBT payments in store. Walgreens also added DoorDash Inc.’s SNAP/EBT acceptance earlier this year.
- In related news, Instacart also announced that Aldi South, the grocer that operates U.S. Aldi stores, will use Instacart’s Connected Stores technology. The expanded partnership also includes use of Instacart’s fulfillment technology for e-commerce orders. Aldi South also is testing Caper Carts in Austria.
- Payments provider Celero Commerce said it acquired Sona, a payments business in Canada. The acquisition means Celero now will process approximately $26 billion in annual card volume in North America. Terms were not disclosed. The deal marks Celero’s entry into the Canadian market, it said.
- Point-of-sale systems supplier NCR Voyix Corp. said it will eliminate approximately $75 million in payroll costs following layoffs in July. NCR Voyix also said in its second quarter results that it had revenue of $876 million, down 7.4% from $946 million in the 2023 second quarter. It posted a $4 million quarterly loss compared with a $55 million profit a year ago, prior to NCR Corp.’s split into NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos, an ATM services provider. NCR Voyix said its retail business line revenue decreased 7% year-over-year in the second quarter while its restaurant revenue dropped 10% for the same period. Its digital banking revenue was up 9%.
- J.P. Morgan Payments announced an expansion of its collaboration with PopID, a developer of facial identification technology, to deploy the technology in stores across the country. The program will allow shoppers to pay up to 90 seconds faster than with conventional authentication, the parties say. J.P. Morgan Payments announced in February that PopID would be part of its commerce platform.
- Marqeta will become the exclusive card-issuing platform for Varo Bank N.A. under a five-year agreement announced early Tuesday.
- Payment card manufacturers CPI Card Group Inc. reported June-quarter revenue of $118.8 million, up 3% year-over-year, though sales for the first half of the year are down 2%, to $230.8 million.
- Blend, a platform for digital banking services, said it is working with instant-payments technology provider Astra to remove friction from the process by which users sign up to fund new deposit accounts.
- Advisory firm Strategic Resource Management Inc. released its “Examining the First Year of FedNow & the State of Instant Payments” report.
- Processor Global Payments Inc. appointed Robert “Bob” Cortopassi president and chief operating officer. Cortopassi, who has worked at Global for the past 12 years, was promoted from the senior executive vice president and president of international and vertical markets positions.
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