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Some 400,000 small merchants now accept American Express Co. payment cards through the OptBlue program that AmEx announced nearly a year ago. OptBlue enables bank card merchant acquirers and independent sales organizations to offer AmEx acceptance to small businesses and set the pricing through a one-stop-shopping option when they sell …
Read More »A Decentralized Payments System May Work Against a Smooth U.S. EMV Migration
The United States with its several thousand credit and debit card issuers and more than a dozen payment networks presents a stiff challenge to the card industry as it tries to convert from magnetic-stripe stripe cards to Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards, two industry veterans told a group of independent sales …
Read More »As New-Merchant Pricing Slips ‘Dramatically,’ Squeeze on Acquirers Ratchets up
Price compression in the merchant-acquiring business is nothing new, but research from First Annapolis Consulting shows it may be much more intense than previously thought. “The price point that an acquirer must present to sign a new merchant is falling and falling dramatically in the very segments most acquirers would …
Read More »BluePay Acquisition Bolsters Integrated POS Efforts As New Exec Takes Over
Merchant-services company BluePay Processing Inc. has bought CDI Technology Corp., which provides e-commerce software and payment services for companies that use business-management software such as Oracle JD Edwards and SAP. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lombard, Ill.-based CDI integrates e-commerce and payments into business-management software, often called …
Read More »Merchant Processor Global Payments Reports Strong Second-Quarter Financials
By Digital Transactions News Staff Bolstered by solid growth in the U.S. and Asia, merchant processor Global Payments Inc. on Thursday reported total revenues of $697.3 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2015 ended Nov. 30, up 10% from $634.1 million a year earlier. Second-quarter net income increased only …
Read More »ISO Startup Blue Star Hopes Ties to NFL’s Dallas Cowboys Will Boost Its Prospects
The National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys organization is lending its name recognition to a new merchant-services company, Blue Star Payment Solutions. Frisco, Texas-based Blue Star intends to build its brand based on its affiliation with the Dallas Cowboys as one of the companies owned by the Jones family, says Jerry …
Read More »ISO Merchant Warehouse Rebrands as Cayan in Effort to Better Reflect New Business Focus
Merchant processor Merchant Warehouse announced Monday it has changed its name to Cayan LLC. The 17-year-old Boston-based company’s rebrand takes effect immediately and is reflected on a redesigned Web site that includes a new tag line, “The Payment Possibilities Company.” It will also be promoted at next week’s National Retail …
Read More »Payments Exec Tom Wimsett in Gateway Deal With Private-Equity Firm
Former National Processing Co. chief executive Tom Wimsett, now head of consulting firm Wimsett & Co. LLC, has teamed up with private-equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners to buy EchoSat Communication, a payment-gateway company. EchoSat, based in Lexington, Ky., targets petroleum marketers and convenience stores. According to EchoSat’s Web …
Read More »Digital River Re-Ups With Microsoft, Removing a Cloud Over Its Planned Buy-Out
Investors in Digital River Inc.’s stock reacted with exultation Wednesday morning when the gateway and e-commerce services provider disclosed that Microsoft Corp., its biggest customer, had renewed an agreement under which Digital River hosts the Microsoft Store online site. Not only has Digital River retained a client that accounts for …
Read More »EMV Continues Lifting VeriFone as the Terminal Maker Preps for the ‘Year of Product’
Point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. saw a nearly 20% increase in its fourth-quarter North American revenues as U.S. merchants continued to prepare for Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip card acceptance. Looking forward, the company is getting ready to introduce major new products in fiscal 2015, a year chief executive Paul Galant …
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