Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• The Federal Trade Commission is investigating PayPal Holdings Inc.’s popular Venmo mobile person-to-person payments service for possible “deceptive or unfair practices,” PayPal reported in a regulatory filing. PayPal said it received a so-called civil investigative demand March 28 from the FTC for documents and answers to written questions about Venmo. PayPal says it is cooperating with the FTC. The investigation could lead to an enforcement action and consent order, and require PayPal to change Venmo’s operations, according to PayPal.
• ATM network owner Cardtronics Inc. said per-ATM average monthly cash-withdrawal transactions increased 13.5% in the first quarter to 832 versus 733 a year earlier.
• ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. said first-quarter revenues in its financial self-service segment declined 4.4% year over year on a constant-currency basis to $446.5 million.
• Wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. reported a first-quarter net loss of $4.2 million versus a $72 million loss a year earlier, on revenues of $358.4 million, up 10% on a constant-currency basis from $330.6 million. Digital money-transfer transactions increased 23% to account for 15% of total money transfers.
• The Bancorp Inc., parent company of leading prepaid card issuer The Bancorp Bank, reported prepaid card fee income of $13.6 million in the first quarter, up 3.4% from $13.1 million a year earlier.
• Paytronix Systems Inc., a vendor of loyalty solutions to restaurants and other retailers, introduced its Paytronix Survey Center, a facility to gather customer data via real-time surveys.
• NetCents Technology Inc., a Canadian payments platform that relies on the automated clearing house and blockchain technology, said its mobile app is available free on the iTunes and Google Play stores. The app allows users to make peer-to-peer payments, deposit funds from bank accounts, and trade digital currency.
• Visa Inc. launched its second annual The Everywhere Initiative, an exercise for startup payments companies to develop products that solve Visa business problems. There are three challenges, each with a $50,000 prize.
