Shift4 Payments LLC has made another acquisition. The acquiring player behind the Harbortouch brand purchased Melville, N.Y.-based CurvePay, which was backed by IRN Payment Systems, Shift4 announced Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed. It was only two weeks ago that Allentown, Pa.-based Shift4 Payments finalized acquisitions for three hospitality point-of-sale providers, …
Read More »Gateway Provider NMI Snaps up Creditcall in a Bid for Wider Payment Capabilities
Network Merchants LLC has agreed to acquire Creditcall, a United Kingdom-based payment gateway provider, processor, and vendor of EMV kernel software. Terms of the deal, including a price and an estimated closing date, were not disclosed in NMI’s official announcement. Roy Banks, NMI’s chief executive, tells Digital Transactions News the …
Read More »Google Formally Unveils Its Work-in-Progress Google Pay, the Successor to Android Pay
After announcing a coming rebranding for its Android Pay mobile and online payment service in January, Alphabet Inc.’s Google subsidiary on Tuesday formally unveiled the new Google Pay. But the rebranding, centered on a new mobile app for Android devices, is a work in progress, with more changes and new …
Read More »Consumers Increasingly Prefer To Use Debit Cards Instead of Credit Cards, Researcher Shows
Some 61% of consumers surveyed in the fourth quarter by New York City-based Auriemma Consulting Group cited a debit card as their most frequently used card, up from 52% a year earlier. Only 24% named a credit card, down from 35% at the end of 2016. “Based on our consumer …
Read More »Senators’ Letter on Pot Won’t Sway Card Networks, But Could Parry Sessions’s Thrust
The efforts of 18 U.S. senators to persuade the Senate Appropriations Committee to honor state laws for legal cannabis are not expected to sway Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. to drop their prohibitions on marijuana-related purchases over their networks. Earlier this week, a group spearheaded by Sens. Michael Bennett (D) …
Read More »A New POS Software Malware Strain Avoids Detection By Fitting in With the Crowd
A new point-of-sale software malware strain wants its victims to think it is a nondescript bit of code that computers and networks commonly use when surfing the Internet. Uncovered by investigators at Austin, Texas-based Forcepoint, a data-security services provider, the malware, dubbed “UDPos” by Forcepoint, attempts to conceal itself in …
Read More »Operation Choke Point Lives on in Actions by Other Federal Agencies, ETA Chief Warns
While the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Choke Point initiative ended last year, over-zealous efforts by other federal agencies threaten law-abiding payments companies in the same way Choke Point did, the chief executive of the Electronic Transactions Association warned Congress on Thursday. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on …
Read More »Eye on Online Payments: Groupon+ Snags 2.7 Million Cardholders; Western Union’s Online P2P Volume Rises 22%
Online and mobile offers provider Groupon Inc. reported Wednesday that 2.7 million Visa and Mastercard card holders are using its new Groupon+ service to get discounts at restaurants without presenting a voucher. And wire-transfer provider The Western Union Co. says its online consumer-to-consumer payment transactions rose 22% in the fourth …
Read More »Payfone Continues To Attract Investment From Payments Companies, This Time Synchrony Financial
Mobile-authentication technology provider Payfone Inc. has raised another $23 million in a new funding round that included retail card payment services provider Synchrony Financial. The exact investment from Synchrony Ventures, Synchrony Financial’s venture-capital arm, wasn’t disclosed in Tuesday’s announcement. An undisclosed institutional investor led the funding round. In addition to …
Read More »First Data’s Prepaid Business Shines as Struggling Bank Joint Ventures Begin Turnaround
First Data Corp.’s struggling merchant-acquiring joint ventures with three big banks are showing nascent signs of a turnaround, and business is booming in the company’s prepaid card unit, top executives reported Monday. The Atlanta-based processor reported last year that new merchant referrals from its big joint ventures with The PNC …
Read More »