News

February, 2020

• 21 February

  The Clearing House Payments Co. And 11 Banks Take Stakes in an Access-Protection Firm

  

  FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, the big mutual-fund and asset-management firm, this week spun off Akoya LLC, a tech company that recently launched an account-access protection network. Akoya is now co-owned by FMR, The Clearing House Payments Co., and 11 of TCH’s member banks, a development expected …
• 21 February

  Cardtronics Eyes Deposit-Taking ATMs and Surcharge-Free and Branding Deals for Growth

  

  Thanks mainly to strong results in North America, leading non-bank ATM network owner Cardtronics plc saw fourth-quarter revenues rise, and in 2020 is seeking new growth from more partnerships with banks and fintechs and the deployment of deposit-taking ATMs. Houston-based Cardtronics now has nearly 1,000 deposit-taking and cash-accepting ATMs in …
• 21 February

  Fiserv Launches PIN-Based Contactless Payments on Nothing More Than Sellers’ Mobile Phones

  

  Fiserv Inc. said this week its First Data unit has performed the first PIN-on-mobile contactless transaction involving only a commercially available mobile device. Observers say the breakthrough could expand the availability of PIN-on-mobile technology significantly by allowing small merchants like food-truck operators and other mobile sellers to accept card payments …
• 21 February

  Western States Names Officers and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/21/20

  

  The Western States Acquirers Association announced Jason Putnam, a TIB-The Independent BankersBank executive, is president for 2020, having been a board member for the past 11 years. Deborah Camm, a Merrick Bank executive, is the vice president. Chase Oelkers of Folium Biosciences and Scott Defazio of Fiserv were elected directors. John Newton …
• 20 February

  Better merchant compliance helps you, your peers, and your country!

  

  PCI Plus: The answer to the PCI compliance crisis and U.S. security threats Read news feeds on any social media platform, or watch your nightly news, and you’re likely to hear about cybercriminals hacking someone’s data. Facebook and Capital One are just a few of the notable security breaches this …
• 20 February

  Ally Financial Agrees to Buy CardWorks, Parent of Major Acquirer Merrick Bank

  

  Ally Financial Inc. announced this week it will buy CardWorks Inc. for $2.65 billion. CardWorks owns Merrick Bank, a major player in merchant acquiring. In the deal, expected to close in the third quarter, Detroit-based Ally says Merrick Bank will merge into Ally Bank. Merrick has approximately $32 billion in …
• 20 February

  As Mobile Wallets Proliferate Globally, Pricing Emerges As a Key Tactic for Growth

  

  Mobile wallets aren’t the revolutionary products they were a few years ago, but as more and more entities launch new ones across the world, the apps are getting much more diverse and cheaper to use. That’s because, while sponsors continue to battle for adoption, they’re finding pricing to be a …
• 20 February

  Green Dot Dollar Volume Up and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/20/20

  

  Prepaid card and banking services provider Green Dot Corp. reported $10.6 billion in gross dollar volume on its products for the fourth quarter, up 8% year-over-year. Green Dot also announced a multi-year extension of its contract with Apple Inc. for issuing the Apple Cash card.ATM network operator Cardtronics plc said Amazon.com customers can now add cash to …
• 19 February

  USA Technologies Eyes Growth in Software-Based Services And Expansion Into Japan

  

  While playing defense in a proxy war with the company’s largest shareholder, vending-machine payments provider USA Technologies Inc.’s top executives are looking for growth through software-based services, and expansion into adjacent markets and other countries, particularly Japan.  “Our go-to-market strategy is to advance our sales efforts as an integrated software …
• 19 February

  How the Utility of APIs Also Makes Them Targets for Online Criminals

  

  Enabling account access and payments between different platforms is the task of application program interfaces, a bit of software code that thousands of payments companies rely on. Dubbed APIs, the technology is vital to the connected payments experience consumers desire and companies want to provide. Criminals, too, desire access to …