• The National Retail Federation announced that senior vice president and general counsel Mallory Duncan plans to retire at the end of August. Duncan joined the trade group in 1994 as general counsel and is a staunch advocate for merchants’ interests on payments issues. He plans to consult on payments and other matters after retirement.
• The Merchant Risk Council announced that a joint law-enforcement effort—eCommerce Action 2017—resulted in the arrest of 73 individuals suspected of online fraud activities. The operation took place in 26 European nations earlier in June.
• Under a lawsuit settlement announced this week, Bank of America Corp. will repay tens of thousands of released Arizona prison inmates for what advocacy groups say were excessive fees to access money on prepaid cards they received when they got out of prison, the Associated Press reported.
• Punchh, which operates a loyalty platform for restaurants, said it is integrating Apple Pay, allowing users to pay and earn and rewards through Apple Wallet. Punchh, which serves 85 chains, says clients including Smashburger, Quiznos, and MOD Pizza will be offering Apple Pay through the Punchh integration later this year.
• VeriFone Systems Inc. launched its V240m portable device and its e285 standalone mobile point-of-sale device. Both work on VeriFone’s Engage platform. The V240m is aimed at line-busting, curbside, and pay-at-table applications. The e285 offers up to 12 hours of battery life and a 2.8-inch color screen.
• EFS, a fleet-payment solutions unit of WEX Inc., launched a fleet-savings network called Fleet One EDGE, which offers smaller trucking fleets discounts on fuel at more than 3,600 truck stops so far.
• Payments platform Payza expanded its cryptocurrency support to include Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, Zcash, and dozens of other brands. Payza began supporting Bitcoin last month.
• Payments gateway BlueSnap Inc. released an app for Android and iPhone devices that provides merchants with access to their payment data.
• International Technologies and Systems Corp., also known as ID TECH, said the NETePay payment software from Datacap Systems Inc. is available with select ID TECH products.
• Point-of-sale system maker Touch Dynamic released an EMV level 3-certified POS tablet developed in conjunction with middleware provider Datacap Systems Inc.
• Payment gateway Shift4 Corp. said it has completed an integration to the Oracle Payment Interface, bringing its payment-processing services to merchants using Oracle’s point-of-sale and property-management services.
• Independent sales organization Aliant Payment Systems announced a partnership with Merchant e-Solutions.