Prepaid Cards

Mastercard Inc. saw strong growth in its core business in the second quarter, a time when the network continued its push for contactless cards and development of the new Secure Remote Commerce system for online payments. Mastercard said it switched 21.4 billion transactions globally in the three months ending June …

Prepaid payments provider InComm Inc. announced the acquisition of Meridian Loyalty, an incentives provider for large corporations. Separately, Fleetcor Technologies Inc. said it will acquire Sole Financial, a payroll card provider. Atlanta-based InComm said its acquisition of St. Louis-based Meridian will boost its incentive business for corporations. Among Meridian’s specialties …

Convenience-store operator Cumberland Farms released a new mobile-payment app with two payment options. In addition to linking to a checking account to pay for fuel at the pump, the SmartPay function within the app also enables consumers to link to a Netspend prepaid account or use a credit or debit …

Paysafe Group said its Rapid Transfer online-banking payments service available in 18 European countries will be coming to the U.S. through a new partnership with Skrill USA Inc. With Rapid Transfer, consumers can make ACH or wire-transfer payments at Skrill-accepting merchants without leaving the merchant’s Web site. Via Transportation Inc., …

While most North American payments fraud is related to identity and organized crime, one area—terrorism—stands out in this region compared to other developed markets. Eight percent of the 154 criminals cases reviewed by information-security firm Terbium Labs in its “The Next Generation of Criminal Financing: How Payment Fraud Funds Transnational …

Online and mobile bill-payment provider Allied Payment Network announced what it says is a “first of its kind” real-time digital bill-payment technology. The company developed the product in collaboration with Finastra, a software provider to financial institutions. Payments provider International Bancard said it was named the official credit card processor …

Private-equity firm Acuity Capital Partners LLC acquired specialty gift card manufacturer Sterling Card Solutions, according to Sterling’s financial advisor, the investment bank Capstone Headwaters. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Besides gift cards, Sterling makes hotel key cards, identification cards, phone cards, and other products. Half the world’s population, …

Discover Financial Services chief financial officer R. Mark Graf will retire in early 2020, Discover announced. Graf joined Discover in 2011. The company has hired an executive-search team to find his successor. American Express Co. enhanced the rewards package on its Gold Card; cardholders will now get 4-times Membership Rewards …

Facing major consolidation among rival processors. Global Payments Inc. and Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) made it official Tuesday they are merging in an all-stock deal that values TSYS at $21.5 billion and will leave Global with 52% of the combined entity. The acquisition is expected to close in the …

Processor Adyen N.V. said ride-share service Uber will use Adyen’s 3-D Secure service online and in-app. 3-D Secure is an online authentication standard that, now in its second iteration, uses multiple bits of data to verify elements of a transaction. Unlike the first version, 3-D Secure 2 aims to be …