Competitive Strategies

Euronet Worldwide Inc., owner of the Ria money-transfer service, early Tuesday announced a $1 billion bid to acquire Dallas-based MoneyGram International Inc. Euronet’s unexpected bid casts a cloud of uncertainty over the $880 million buyout offer China-based Ant Financial Services Group submitted for MoneyGram in January. Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet called …

Alphabet Inc.’s Google Inc. unit converted its Android-based Google Wallet into a peer-to-peer payment service two years ago, and on Tuesday Google extended that service to Gmail, its popular email application. With the new feature, Gmail users can send and request money on Android phones, much as they have been …

Ant Financial Services Group issued its first comments late Tuesday on Euronet Worldwide Inc.’s surprise $1 billion bid earlier in the day for MoneyGram International Inc., the wire-transfer provider for which Ant Financial bid $880 million in January. “Ant Financial remains highly committed to the consummation of our merger with …

The long downward spiral of Merchant Customer Exchange LLC reached another milestone Friday with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s announcement that it is acquiring technology assets from MCX. The money-center bank will use the technology to help launch its fledgling Chase Pay mobile wallet with more merchants. Waltham, Mass.-based MCX is …

Decoupled debit programs may yet yield rewards for merchants, especially as they look for ways to circumvent payment networks and spur loyalty among consumers. That’s the take from a new report, “Decoupled Debit: The Start of Mainstream Adoption?” issued by Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Decoupled debit is not a new …

• Private-equity fund Vista Equity Partners said it would buy Canadian payments and financial software provider DH Corp. (D+H) for C$4.8 billion ($3.6 billion) in cash and merge it with one of its portfolio companies, United Kingdom-based Misys, a software provider for retail and corporate banking. • Merchant processor Payment Data Systems Inc. said …

The week started out on a fusion theme when a private-equity firm said it would buy Canadian payments and financial software developer DH Corp. for C$4.8 billion ($3.6 billion) and merge it with one of its portfolio companies, United Kingdom-based Misys, a software provider for retail and corporate banking. Also …

• Payments provider Clearent LLC completed its purchase of Payment Alliance International’s Merchant Services Division. The deal expands Clearent’s annual processing volume to $14 billion. • International payment-services provider Planet Payment Inc. reported that it processed a total of 191.6 million settled transactions in 2016, down 16% from 227.5 million transactions in …

All eyes in the person-to-person payments business may be on Venmo these days, but a few tantalizing numbers released last week by JPMorgan Chase & Co. could indicate that a new, bank-controlled payments service set to launch this year will literally give PayPal Holdings Inc.’s P2P app a run for …

For mobile-wallet providers, card issuers, and merchants trying to attract consumers to their mobile-payment services, the way to build a base of active customers can be summarized in two words: pay up. New findings from Auriemma Consulting Group based on research with 1,505 payment card holders eligible for mobile-payments programs …