Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Visa Inc. closed on its acquisition of Earthport, a provider of cross-border payments services. The card network says it expects the acquisition to allow it to access “the vast majority of the world’s banked population” to allow them to move money globally. Earthport earlier this year had been the object …

NACHA said automated clearing house volume in the first quarter totaled 6 billion payments that included 3.5 billion debit transactions and 2.5 billion credit transactions. Internet-initiated payments increased 10.3% to 1.6 billion. Same-day ACH transactions totaled 52.7 million, up 24% from a year prior. NACHA also launched the NACHA Corporate …

Payments providers Nxgen International and Payscape have come under one roof in a deal valued at $124 million and aided by investor Parthenon Capital Partners, the companies announced late last week. That will provide the impetus for both companies, whose brands will continue, to focus on expansion through organic growth …

Will it or won’t it? Those eagerly awaiting word about whether the Federal Reserve will directly operate a real-time gross settlement system will have to wait a bit longer. The Fed last October said it was considering whether to directly develop and operate a RTGS system as an outgrowth of …

Long-time NACHA president and chief executive Jan Estep will cede that role July 1 to chief operating officer Jane Larimer, the organization announced Monday. Estep will formally retire at the end of the year, NACHA said, following a confidential process she set in motion late in 2018 with NACHA’s board …

First Data Corp. launched CloverAchievers, a grant program for small-business owners that offers recipients a cash grant, Clover point-of-sale equipment, and a charitable donation in their names. Bank of America Merchant Services said it and subscription-management specialist Recurly are working together on products for merchants. Fraud-prevention firm ACH Alert named …

In its latest move to enhance its electronic bill-payment services, Mastercard Inc. announced Friday it has a deal to acquire bill-pay platform provider Transactis Inc. New York City-based Transactis provides technology that enables small businesses and organizations such as schools and property owners that mostly deal with paper bills and …

The integrated-payments phenomenon is paying off for EVO Payments Inc. in the United States and internationally. While Atlanta-based EVO reported a decrease in first-quarter earnings, its strategy of courting integrated software vendors and companies that support their point-of-sale software continues to reap rewards, which EVO management says will benefit the …

Denver light-rail and bus riders will be making a bit of electronic-payments history this spring and summer by being the world’s first commuters able to use Uber Technologies Inc.’s mobile app to buy and use transit tickets. The new service, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks, …

Facebook Inc. reportedly is planning a cryptocurrency-based payment system using a digital coin with stable value that would enable the social-networking giant to avoid fees it incurs for conventional card payments, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal cited by the Associated Press. The report says Facebook is …

The big merchant processors Global Payments Inc. and merger candidate Worldpay Inc. reported healthy first-quarter results Thursday. North America performed especially well for Atlanta-based Global Payments, generating $678.4 million in revenues, up 14% from $594 million in 2018’s first quarter. In contrast, European revenues slipped 0.3% to $142.9 million while …

The board of directors of Mitek Systems Inc., the developer of remote deposit capture and identity-verification software, has concluded its “strategic review” of alternatives that could have led to the company being acquired, but now plans to remain independent. “Our board, following a thorough review of the results and in …

Square Inc. has been a non-traditional merchant acquirer since its birth nearly a decade ago, and a wave of industry mergers won’t change that, according to chief executive Jack Dorsey.  “I do think we will continue to see consolidation, but that doesn’t worry me,” Dorsey, who also is Twitter Inc.’s …

Merchant processor EVO Payments Inc. says it has a deal to acquire the payment-gateway assets of Mexico City-based SF Systems, which has developed integrations with many of Mexico’s largest point-of-sale systems. EVO has been working with SF Systems since it entered Mexico in 2015. Terms of the deal were not …

Core processor Fiserv Inc. continues to expect its $22 billion deal to acquire First Data Corp. will close in 2019’s second half despite a U.S. Department of Justice inquiry about the merger, Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv reported Tuesday. The Justice Department asked for more information and documents on April 4, though …

Boosted in part by transit systems and other merchants adopting contactless payments, the Apple Pay mobile-payments service had another quarter of record volume and is heading for a milestone this year, Apple Inc. chief executive Tim Cook said Tuesday. “Apple Pay transaction volume more than doubled year-over-year, and we are …

Mastercard Inc. has been active on the mergers-and-acquisitions front lately, and that’s going to continue, according to company president and chief executive Ajay Banga. The acquisitions typically involve financial-technology firms in all corners of payments. Just two weeks ago, Mastercard announced that it had acquired Vyze Inc., the provider of …

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on Tuesday said it expects to close its colossal $43 billion acquisition of payment processor Worldpay Inc. in the third quarter following a Federal Trade Commission ruling. The merger, announced in March, would create a processing colossus with payments services ranging from merchant processing, …

PayPal Holdings Inc. said the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority provisionally cleared PayPal’s $2.2 billion deal to buy iZettle AB, a European point-of-sale services provider. The deal closed in 2018. Processor First Data Corp. said merchant-processing revenues from North American clients rose 5% year-over-year in the first quarter to …

In the race to attract and retain today’s always-on, mobile-savvy consumer, most companies are developing their own e-commerce apps at a fast and furious pace. But small glitches, and even major mishaps, can occur when app testing is rushed or overlooked altogether, leading to unhappy consumers, lost sales, and a …