Atos, parent company of France-based processor Worldline S.A., said Worldline has a deal with payment processor First Data Corp. to buy First Data’s subsidiaries in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, collectively known as First Data Baltics, for €73 million ($85.1 million) in cash. The acquisition comes little more than a week …
Read More »Will Faster Payments Arrive Fast Enough to Give a Helping Hand to Mobile Payments?
Faster payments may be in the offing, according to the Federal Reserve, but that term refers to the speed of clearing and settlement. It doesn’t mean new payments methods will necessarily go mass market any more quickly. Take mobile payments, a form of digital value transfer based on smart phones …
Read More »Bitcoin Miners Signal Expansion Support and other Digital Transactions News briefs
Speculation of a possible buyout apparently is boosting the stock of payment processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), according to press reports; one equity analyst recently issued a report saying a buyout of TSYS by processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) would be “a home run.” TSYS is scheduled to …
Read More »Paysafe To Buy Merchants Choice, but Itself May Be Acquired by a Private-Equity Consortium
In a payments play on acquire and be acquired, Paysafe Group plc announced Friday that it has a deal to acquire Delta Card Services Inc., parent company of independent sales organization Merchants’ Choice Payment Solutions, for $470 million in cash. Separately, United Kingdom-based Paysafe also confirmed that it has received …
Read More »Vantiv’s Bank Referral Deal and other Digital Transactions News briefs
Retailer J.C. Penney Co. Inc. announced it now accepts Apple Pay in its stores. The Penney store card will be available for use with Apple Pay, enabling cardholders to earn shopping points through JCPenney Rewards, the store’s loyalty program. Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. announced it has been selected by Columbia Bank, Tacoma, Wash., to provide …
Read More »Mastercard Dodges U.K. Bullet and other Digital Transactions News briefs
• A London judge has rejected an effort by a consumer group in the United Kingdom to bring an $18 billion class-action suit against Mastercard Inc., according to Bloomberg News. The case is related to the card network’s cross-border transaction fees. • Square Inc. announced that Randy Garutti, chief executive of …
Read More »Visa’s Quarterly Profit Quintuples as Payment Volumes Grow and Expenses Fall
Visa Inc.’s top brass talked at length Thursday about payments opportunities abroad, but they also noted that U.S. payment volumes, particularly in credit cards, did quite well in the quarter ending June 30. “Our global business benefited from an overall healthy economy as payments volume grew in every major region,” …
Read More »Vantiv Disputes Researcher’s Report About Its Merchant Pricing
Vantiv Inc. took the unusual step this week of filing a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission to dispute a research firm’s report about its merchant pricing. The payment processor says the report “claims Vantiv deceives merchants by marking up interchange fees.” The report about Vantiv’s allegedly high and …
Read More »On a Partnership Tear, PayPal Unveils New Agreements, This Time With Chase And Citi
PayPal Holdings Inc. made it clear on Thursday it isn’t done striking deals with banks and other payments companies. Only days after announcing a major partnership agreement with Samsung Pay, PayPal now says it will work more closely with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the bank’s Chase Pay wallet. And …
Read More »Mastercard Adopts EMVCo Spec in Push To Enable Greater QR Code Payments Use
Mastercard Inc. is expanding the options for merchants and consumers who want to use Quick Response codes for mobile payments. The expansion of Masterpass QR, announced Wednesday, will enable a merchant to scan a QR code generated and displayed on a consumer’s smart phone and process the payment through the …
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