Acquiring

Mastercard Inc. acquired Brighterion Inc., a software company specializing in artificial intelligence that Mastercard expects will enhance its customer-experience and fraud-prevention services for customers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. PayPal Holdings Inc. and Visa Inc. extended to Europe a collaboration deal first announced last summer. Under the agreement, PayPal’s European operation will promote …

Visa Inc.’s “Cashless Challenge” campaign to promote electronic payments is not finding much support from the ATM industry, to put it mildly. Last week, Visa announced the campaign, which will award up to $500,000 to 50 eligible U.S. food-service owners who convert their point-of-sale systems to electronic payments only. Visa …

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said users of its Samsung Pay mobile wallet will be able to add PayPal as a payment method, and PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Braintree unit will make Samsung Pay available to merchants via its Braintree Direct service. PayPal will be available within Samsung Pay for in-app, online, and in-store transactions. The …

Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. said it is developing e-commerce payments and security extensions for the Magento 1 and Magento 2 platforms operated by Magento Commerce. Vantiv last week agreed to acquire U.K.-based processor Worldpay Group plc for $9.9 billion, in part to beef up its e-commerce business. Florida-based merchant-service provider Fattmerchant said its flat-rate pricing model …

With the growth of payment-facilitator programs and integrated payments, merchant-service companies are expanding services to take advantage of the trends. The latest is Payroc LLC, which on Wednesday announced it has enhanced both its payments gateway and payment-facilitator program. Payfac programs, as they’re called, allow a merchant-service provider to aggregate …

Flywire Corp., a processor specializing in education payments and other cross-border transactions, said it notched “record results” over the past year in payments processed and students and institutions served. Among other results, the company said it added 300 schools, bringing its total to more than 1,300. REcoin, an emerging cryptocurrency intended …

• Technavio, a London-based technology-research firm, forecasts the global market for mobile card readers will grow at a 54% compound annual rate between 2017 and 2021. •  InterContinental Hotels Group, parent company of more than 5,000 hotels worldwide including Holiday Inn, says it is investigating claims of a possible credit card data breach at some …

What’s the future of electronic payments? For many consumers, it’s one that incorporates biometrics for authentication and payments, finds a survey from Viewpost IP Holdings LLC, a business-to-business payments provider. In the survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers, Viewpost found that 50% believe fingerprint technology—already in use with many …

Payments provider North American Bancard Holdings LLC said it completed its acquisition of Total Merchant Services Inc. The combined company now processes nearly $50 billion in payments annually. FitPay Inc., a provider of payment-authentication technology, said it will offer prepaid capability on contactless-enabled wearable devices through a FitPay prepaid Mastercard. The program will allow …

When fraudsters launch a cyber attack, they may not be their target’s worst enemy. Equally troublesome could be the business’s own staff, according to results of a survey of 5,000 companies around the world released Monday by Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based global cybersecurity firm. It turns out employees not only …