News

February, 2020

• 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 …
• 19 February

  ParkMobile’s 18 Million Users and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/19/20

  

  ParkMobile LLC, a provider of mobile parking payments, said it has reached 18 million users after a 110% two-year growth rate. It also said it has appointed John Brown chief operations officer. Brown previously held executive positions at Clutch Technologies, Cardlytics, and Fiserv Inc.Payment card provider CPI Card Group Inc. announced its …
• 18 February

  Survey: Americans Have $21 Billion in Unused Gift Card Balances

  

  All those unredeemed gift cards in people’s drawers and on dresser tops are adding up. New research from Bankrate LLC estimates the total value of Americans’ unredeemed gift cards and leftover store credits at $21 billion. Bankrate says its survey, the firm’s first of its kind, found the average adult …
• 18 February

  Perk Hero Debuts as Glance Technologies Changes Its Name Amid a Quest for Younger Consumers

  

  The payment habits of Generation Z and Millennial consumers are providing some of the motivation for Glance Technologies Inc. to change its name and mission. Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996, and those born in 1997 and later are Gen Z members. Announced Tuesday, the new corporate name is …
• 18 February

  Fiserv Tests PIN-on-Mobile and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 2/18/20

  

  Fiserv Inc. said its First Data unit is piloting PIN-on-mobile technology in Poland, with plans to expand the program to the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. The technology, which allows merchants to accept PINs on off-the-shelf mobile devices, was developed in collaboration with Visa Inc., Samsung Electronics …
• 17 February

  A German Company Unveils a Checkout Buster That Relies on Breakthroughs in RFID Scanning

  

  As merchants and their technology partners continue to develop technology to ditch the familiar checkout, a German entrant on Monday demonstrated a system that would use radio-frequency identification to charge customers as they walk out with their goods. The system, dubbed “payfree,” involves an app that consumers would install in …