The Covid-19 pandemic is driving consumers and merchants to opt for contactless options, and now software that can enable an ordinary smart phone to accept cards via near-field communication is moving faster toward the point of sale. Visa Inc. on Wednesday granted a so-called security compliance allowance to MagicCube Inc.’s …
Read More »Lightspeed Looks to Become a Major Player in Hospitality With Acquisition of Upserve
Canadian processor Lightspeed POS Inc. expects its acquisition of Upserve Inc., a Providence, R.I.-based provider of cloud-based restaurant-management software, to make it more competitive in the restaurant point-of-sale business in the United States. The acquisition of Upserve for a combination of cash and stock totaling $430 million comes hot on …
Read More »Sysnet Acquires ControlScan Unit and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/2/20
Sysnet Global Solutions said it acquired the Managed Complication Solutions division of ControlScan Inc. With the acquisition, Sysnet said almost 4 million small and mid-size businesses and payment processing companies use its services. Terms were not disclosed.Fido Merchant Services, a United Kingdom-based payment gateway and merchant services provider, is embarking on …
Read More »Shopify’s E-Commerce Sales Soar 76% During the Black Friday/Cyber Monday Shopping Period
Global e-commerce sales totaled more than $5.1 billion during the four- day holiday shopping period from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, up 76% from the same period in 2019, says e-commerce platform provider Shopify Inc. Online sales for the period, which traditionally kicks off the holiday-shopping season, surpassed 2019 volume …
Read More »Eye on Acquirers: Nuvei To Acquire Base Commerce Assets And Fattmerchant Gains Major Investor
Nuvei Corp. is making a move to bolster its integrated payments offerings with the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Phoenix-based Base Commerce LLC. Announced Tuesday, the pending deal—it’s expected to close by Dec. 31—will expand Nuvei’s product capabilities with a proprietary automated clearing house platform and additional merchants, Montreal-based …
Read More »Unicorn Momentum—Like Much Else—Slows in 2020 for Payments Firms And Other Fintechs
Most Americans will be glad to see the last of 2020 as they ring in 2021 in a few weeks, and that group will include private investors. In a year in which the coronavirus ran rampant, damaging many businesses and shuttering others, tech investors pegged significantly fewer privately held payments …
Read More »Libra Changes its Name to Diem and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 12/1/20
The Libra Association, the organization behind the Libra cryptocurrency project, said it is renaming itself Diem, Latin for “day.” Acknowledging pressure from governments and regulators worldwide, the association this spring changed course on several key strategies, setting out new plans for single-currency stablecoins and a stronger compliance regime.Commerce platform Shopify Inc. said its merchants had …
Read More »How Criminals Are Leveraging Covid to Get Personal Data From Consumers
With consumers shifting more of their transactions online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, criminals continue to target card-not-present transactions and step up their efforts to deceive consumers into giving up their account information, says Feedzai Inc.’s latest quarterly Financial Crime Report. The three leading factors contributing to the increase in …
Read More »Shopify’s Black Friday Volume up 75% and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 11/30/20
Commerce platform Shopify Inc. reported $2.4 billion in global Black Friday sales, a 75% increase from 2019. Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving. Mobile sales accounted for 68% of U.S. transactions and desktop, 32%. Top U.S. cities were New York, Los Angeles, and Vernon, Calif. The average ticket of $93.80 was …
Read More »COMMENTARY: The DoJ Is Right in Suing To Stop Visa’s Deal For Plaid. Here’s Why (Part II)
Unlike Visa and Mastercard, Plaid is not just another credit and debit card company largely beholden to the big banks. It uses modern technology, in a sector that has been slow to adopt it, to create a new payments paradigm. It likely has no plans to issue cards or use …
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