Competitive Strategies

• Former Heartland Payment Systems Inc. chief executive Bob Carr has returned to the payments industry with Beyond, a payments provider. Announced Monday, Beyond, on its Web site, says it will provide payment processing, integrated payments, lending services, and business-management services. Carr had been the leader of Heartland, which Global Payments Inc. acquired for …

• Apple Inc. is once again talking to payments-industry players about launching a person-to-person payment service, according to a report on Recode.net, which cited “multiple sources familiar with the talks.” The sources say the service would allow iPhone users to send money to each other. Recode also reports Apple is talking to …

Whatever their personal feelings are about marijuana usage, the growth of the legal cannabis industry in many states will force bankers and payments executives to examine the business prospects of serving that industry, according to an executive with a regional automated clearing house association. While marijuana remains illegal under federal …

Mobile payments are on the radar for many airline executives. Fully 72% of North American airline executives responsible for revenue, finance, payments, and commerce, said the increase in customers using mobile payments and mobile banking is a factor in deploying digital wallets and alternative-payment methods, finds a new survey from …

• Processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) reported its revenues grew 60.2% year-over-year in the first quarter, to $1.2 billion from $739.4 million. Net income attributable to common shareholders was $105.9 million, up 16.8% from $90.6 million. For 2017, the company is raising its total revenue and net revenue guidance by …

Pay with Venmo, a fledgling merchant-payments service from PayPal Holdings Inc., is advancing to a broader testing stage with merchants, PayPal chief executive Dan Schulman said during a conference call with analysts to discuss the company’s first-quarter results Wednesday. Announced in 2016, One Touch is PayPal’s rapidly growing checkout service …

As the U.S. payments industry prepares to adopt real-time payments, supporters are readying their services. The latest entry is the duo of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) and The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC, which announced Tuesday an incubator in which banks and credit unions can take their first …

• Merchant processor Elavon Inc. announced it has added online storefront technology from 3dcart for e-commerce merchants and online-ordering capability for the talech point-of-sale tablet. • Peer Ledger, a Canadian blockchain company, said a study it conducted shows digital identity can be tied to the blockchain, the technology underlying cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. …

Retailers organized by the National Retail Federation and the Merchants Payments Coalition are scheduled to descend on Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to urge Congress to preserve the Durbin Amendment within the ever-controversial Dodd-Frank Act. One close observer of the political and banking scenes, however, believes the amendment will survive despite …

• Payment technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc. said it will make its UP Immediate Payments service available to financial institutions and credit unions of all sizes. • Merchant processor Global Payments Inc. renewed its contract with Caesars Entertainment Corp. • In a Mastercard Inc. promotion, consumers who use a Mastercard credit, debit, or prepaid card at a …