- Mastercard Inc. launched Assemble, a prepaid service aimed at Millennials that features a digital prepaid account, a mobile app, and a physical or digital card. The service also includes budgeting capability and peer-to-peer payments through Mastercard Send. The company says it plans to extend versions of Assemble to other markets, including the underbanked, microbusinesses, and the so-called gig economy.
- Online-payments processor Klarna said 500 online merchants have enrolled in its instant-financing program since the program’s start in October 2016. The financing option is integrated in Klarna’s checkout process.
- French technology consulting firm Atos has offered to buy Gemalto, the world’s largest maker of chips for mobile phones and payment cards, for €4.3 billion ($5.06 billion), Reuters reported.
- Research firm RBR predicts global card payments will hit 483 billion transactions by 2022, up 56% from 310 billion in 2016. Card usage will grow much faster than card numbers, which RBR predicts will increase 22% over the same period.
- USA Technologies Inc. announced Southern Vending, RDS Vending LLC, and Miami Vending Machines have agreed to add Seed Office VMS and Seed Pro software to USAT’s cashless payments service. USAT added the analytics software when it acquired Cantaloupe Systems in November.
- Grocery chain Kroger Co. said it will accept JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Pay mobile-payments service in-store and online starting next year in “select retail markets and e-commerce programs.”
- CashStar, the e-gift card unit of prepaid card services provider Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc., said retailer Chico’s FAS Inc. will use CashStar for a new gift card e-commerce program.
- Perch Security said it will distribute Visa Inc.’s Visa Threat Intelligence service to merchants. VTI, which Perch will include in its Community Defense Platform, includes so-called indicators of compromise from data breaches.
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