Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals

Worldpay has asked for second extension, this time to Aug. 11 after a first one to Aug. 8, of a British regulatory deadline as Worldpay and Vantiv Inc. executives put the finishing touches on Vantiv’s proposed $9.9 billion buyout offer for the London-based merchant acquirer. Reuters reported that the companies expect to announce a final …

First Data Corp. executives Monday highlighted rapid growth in the processor’s Clover Network line of tablet-based point-of-sale devices, and also said attrition has come down significantly among small merchants. Not so hot are First Data’s joint merchant-acquiring ventures with big banks, but the company insists their revenue softness is only …

Chinese tourism abroad has already taken off, and it’s expected to grow ever larger in coming years, lifting sales for merchants in the United States and other parts of the world. The latest company to set itself up to cash in on the trend is Marriott International Inc., which on …

Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. on Monday launched triPOS Cloud, a cloud-based application programming interface intended for independent software vendors and merchants looking to integrate payments with point-of-sale systems. As an API, triPOS Cloud enables developers to integrate payments functions with a few pieces of code. The service incorporates encryption and tokenization, …

MoneyGram International Inc. reported second-quarter revenue of $410 million, flat with 2016’s second quarter on a constant-currency basis. Digital money-transfer revenue increased 10% and now accounts for 15% of total money-transfer revenue. Net income doubled to $6.2 million. In May, MoneyGram shareholders approved a merger of MoneyGram with Ant Financial Services Group, …

Evidence is emerging that efforts to convince more consumers to use contactless payments instead of cash for low-value transactions may be having an impact, at least in countries other than the United States for now. That’s the take from Cardtronics plc, the giant ATM operator that owned nearly 45,000 U.S. …

Citing possible regulatory hurdles, payment processor First Data Corp. and commercial payments provider Fleetcor Technologies Inc. disclosed Thursday that they have canceled the planned joint venture they announced in March to consolidate their gift card businesses. “While both companies believe the proposed joint venture would provide significant benefits to customers …

Artificial-intelligence technology, on which a number of payments applications have begun to rely over the past year or so, just keeps getting hotter. Nearly 700 funding deals for AI startups were concluded in 2016, up 33% from 2015, according to a report released this week by CBInsights, a New York …

Payments provider National Merchants Association announced it is using the PhoeniXGate gateway from Phoenix Managed Networks. Fleetcor Technologies Inc., a vendor of commercial-payment technology, reported second-quarter results, including a year-over-year increase of 29.5% in total revenue to $541.2 million and GAAP net income of $131 million, up 12.7%. The Western Union Co. reported …

Merchant acquirer Square Inc. increased its presence among consumers in the second quarter with the June rollout of its physical Square Cash Card, a Visa debit card, and the launch of a test in which Square provides loans to customers of its merchants. Both developments occurred as Square’s gross payment …

Global Payments Inc. said Thursday that it has a deal to buy two major divisions of Active Network LLC, a growing event-management software provider and payment processor, for $1.2 billion from a private-equity firm. The merchant acquirer also reported its second-quarter financials, which include a nearly 8% year-over-year increase in …

Bitcoin Cash, the Bitcoin offshoot that debuted Tuesday, already ranks as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. But by Thursday morning its value had taken a beating over the previous 24 hours. By mid-morning, Bitcoin Cash, which trades on digital-currency exchanges under the symbol BCH, was priced at just over …

Ingenico Group said retailer City Furniture is using Ingenico mobile point-of-sale readers and software services as part of its new POS system used in its 27 stores. Payment card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. reported second-quarter sales of $65.8 million, down 10.7% from the same period last year. Its net loss was $2.2 …

Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay service continues to roll out in foreign countries, so much so that 75% of its transaction volume is coming from abroad, according to Apple’s chief financial officer. Apple Pay, which uses near-field communication technology for contactless payments with the iPhone and Apple Watch wearable device, was …

Payments software and infrastructure companies rank third among 24 financial-technology sectors when viewed through the lens of stock price and earnings while point-of-sale device manufacturers rank 23rd, according to a new analysis from an investment firm. The study by San Francisco-based Financial Technology Partners covers scores of publicly traded global …

As merchants and payments processors wrestle with linking e-commerce transaction data with data generated from in-store payments, vendors are starting to offer products to ease that connection. An early player is Creditcall Ltd., which on Monday introduced software that allows processors to combine data streams from a merchant’s online and …

Mobile-payments specialist xPressTap Inc. launched its Tap2App product that enables merchants to accept contactless card payments wirelessly using a near-field communication-equipped mobile device. American Express Co. said it now provides an integrated service to MineralTree, an accounts-payable service, to ease business-to-business payments. Payments provider Integrity Payment Systems announced a partnership with Operation First Response, a …

Slowly but surely, a new version of the Bitcoin digital currency was emerging early Tuesday in what appeared to be the start of a hard fork in the Bitcoin code. The fork is expected to yield a parallel blockchain to support the new cryptocurrency, which is known as Bitcoin Cash. …

Payments veteran and Harbortouch founder Jared Isaacman announced the formation of Lighthouse Network LLC, a company that will provide shared services, such as payment processing, merchant-support responsibilities, and corporate functions to Harbortouch, and eventually other brands, which could be acquired through strategic means, a Lighthouse Network spokesman said. Isaacman said in a press …

Fraudsters are hitting fuel pumps hard as they hunt for the dwindling number of places where they can take advantage of magnetic-stripe payments while EMV chip card acceptance takes hold in U.S. stores and restaurants. Last week, fleet-fueling payment card specialist WEX Inc. revealed that it increased its second-quarter provision …