Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
At the end of a packed year, it’s always worthwhile to take a beat and reflect. 2024 was full of events both difficult and inspiring. For example, the late Fall devastation wrought by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the southern United States gave way to uplifting stories of communities banding together to rescue and rebuild. High-profile consumer brands like Spirit Airlines, TGI Friday’s and Tupperware filed for bankruptcy, but stock indices like the S&P 500 soared to record highs. And the biggest internet star of the year was no human, but an adorable pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng.
If there was one clear trend in the 2024 air, it was change. This was also true in the payments space. The mobile wallet continued its ascendancy as consumers grew increasingly confident leaving their physical ones at home. P2P payments, particularly among younger generational cohorts, exploded. And the attraction to cross-border payments and interconnected markets grew stronger, in an increasingly connected world.
With our fingers on the global and industry pulse, North went through big changes in 2024 as well! Formerly known as North American Bancard, our August rebrand brought clarity to our fundamental mission: to be the easiest payments company to do business with. Along with this big shift, here are some noteworthy milestones from the North year that was.
FEBRUARY
Two of North’s strongest team members were named among the list of the Electronic Transactions Association’s 2024 Top Payment Sales Professionals. Ryan Malloy, SVP of Partner Sales at North, and Humboldt Merchant Services’ Robert Bast, Director of Business Development were recognized at the TRANSACT event in Las Vegas last April. Congrats again fellas!
MARCH
North announced that Payment Links were added to its Payments Hub merchant portal, along with several other new features and enhancements in the product’s update. The addition better positioned the company to support small and mid-sized businesses with online payments and ecommerce initiatives, as well as organizations and nonprofits.
APRIL
A new partnership with Visa, a world leader in digital payments, was announced. Leveraging the processing and connector capabilities of Visa Platform Connect, North integrated its Electronic Payment Exchange (EPX) processing platform with the Visa Acceptance Platform. The move amplified North’s already flexible payment solutions with API-driven, value-added services and gave merchants a more robust offering with the trusted Visa brand.
JUNE
North was proud to be honored by TSG (The Strawhecker Group) in its 2024 API Best of Breed Report. The annual assessment powered by TSG’s Global Experience Monitoring (GEM) platform ranks payment gateways’ overall API experience across two components — API Set and Developer Roadmap. North received first place in the category “API Set: Developer Tools” for the quality and depth of its development infrastructure and supporting tools and services.
AUGUST
The big rebrand! The unveiling of the new identity, including a new name and logo, was the result of an extensive effort. Now known as “North” to best reflect leadership in the payments and business management space through the delivery of industry-leading products and services to businesses of all types and sizes, the rebrand was publicly announced across a number of owned and earned channels.
And in the very same month, Chief Data and Analytics Officer Jeffrey Vagg was recognized by H2O.ai as a 2024 AI 100 Leader. This prestigious list celebrates individuals and organizations at the forefront of the AI revolution, recognizing those who drive innovation and impactful AI implementations across various sectors.
SEPTEMBER
The North Exchange Marketplace made its debut. The platform is a progressive marketplace for apps, an evolutionary extension of North’s payment-platform innovations. It’s also a destination for collaboration, where merchants can find unique products and services from developers, integration partners, and a whole host of solution providers. It helps business owners work smarter, faster and better.
Those were just a few of the big moves we made in 2024. Where is North going in 2025 and beyond? Follow this space to find out!
