Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• The Independent Community Bankers of America trade group submitted a faster-payments proposal to the Federal Reserve’s Faster Payments Task Force; developed with North American Banking Co., the ICBA proposal includes a white-label mobile application and a payments directory to enable transaction settlements through the automated clearing house network’s new same-day ACH service. The Fed this week said its two payment-system improvement task forces have begun reviewing 19 proposals for faster payments.
• Merchant processor Sterling Payment Technologies has begun working with Focus POS Systems, a vendor of point-of-sale software for restaurants, to market a semi-integrated EMV package in the hospitality industry. The offering includes a tip feature and the ability to accept mobile wallets.
• Merchant processor First American Payment Systems L.P. is offering a mobile-payment service for users of ShearShare Inc., a technology company that matches licensed cosmetologists and barbers with salon space available for rent.
• The Western Union Co. initiated money-transfer services, including digital self-service, at Oxxo, which with 14,000 locations is Mexico’s largest convenience-store chain; Western Union now has 26,600 locations in Mexico.
• In related news, Western Union said it would charge no fees on money transfers to Haiti, which was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew this week, through Oct. 9, and that the Western Union Foundation would be contributing to disaster-relief efforts in the Caribbean country.
• American Express Co. is expected to announce changes to its rewards program for consumers carrying the brand’s Platinum card that would enable them to earn more points per dollar spent on airlines, the Associated Press reported.
• PaySimple, which provides an e-commerce platform for businesses, announced what it says is “the first online store built specifically for service providers.”
• The U.S. Payments Forum, an affiliate of the Smart Card Alliance formerly known as the EMV Migration Forum, issued a white paper with guidance for card issuers and merchants about optimizing the speed of EMV chip card transactions.
• In related news, First Data Corp. said its Clover Mini point-of-sale system can process an EMV transaction in 2.93 seconds with optimal Internet speeds.
• Card maker CPI Card Group Inc. said Silvio Tavares, president and chief executive of the CardLinx Association, and Scott Scheirman, CEO of JKL Ventures LLC, joined its board of directors as independent members.
