Transaction Processing

• ATM network owner and operator Cardtronics plc announced an expanded relationship with Carnival Cruise Line that adds Cardtronics ATMs to the crew areas of Carnival’s 25-ship fleet and makes Cardtronics Carnival’s exclusive ATM provider for both guests and crew. Cardtronics will have two ATMs for passengers and two for crew …

By Peter Lucas @DTPaymentNews A combination of better fraud-detection technologies and stronger consumer-authentication strategies is helping e-commerce merchants hold the line on fraud losses, a study from payments consultancy Mercator Advisory Group says. This is the case even though more criminals are practicing their dark art in the online channel …

Recreational marijuana is now legal in a growing number of states, but cash remains the dominant payment method. Now, however, CanPay, a Littleton, Colo.-based payments provider, has developed a digital payment option that allows legal marijuana retailers to directly debit a consumer’s checking account from the point of sale. Typically, …

• The U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light to class-action lawsuits by ATM operators and consumers accusing Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and several U.S. banks of conspiring to inflate the prices of ATM access fees in violation of antitrust law, Reuters reported. The justices dismissed two related cases they earlier had …

By John Stewart @DTPaymentNews The faster-payments movement in the United States took a key step forward late in September with the automated clearing house network’s adoption of same-day clearing, and now numbers are available for the first full month of faster ACH processing. A total of $4.98 billion on 3.8 …

Consumers who use their Samsung Pay mobile wallets to make a payment will be rewarded for their transactions with the debut this week of Samsung Rewards. Announced Monday, the program enables consumers to earn points for their Samsung Pay transactions, which can be redeemed for retailer gift cards, prepaid Samsung …

• Payments-technology provider linked2pay said it and Push Payments, a payments processor, have made real-time payments available on linked2pay’s Bank Centric Payments platform. • JetPay Corp. reported a 48% year-over-year increase in third-quarter revenues to $15.2 million; the processor also reported a net loss of $2.9 million compared with a $1.7 …

• Gift cards were the most sought-after gifts among consumers queried for a survey about the upcoming holiday season and sponsored by the National Retail Federation; 61% of respondents reported wanting a gift card, followed by clothing and accessories, 54%; and books, CDs, DVDs or videos, 40%. • Merchant processor …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews In a move that will further consolidate the U.S. acquiring business, payment processor Vantiv Inc. announced late Thursday that it has an agreement to buy Moneris Solutions Corp.’s U.S. merchant-acquiring subsidiary from its Canadian owners for $425 million in cash.  Also known as Moneris USA, Schaumburg, Ill.-based …

Even though payments processors have been working with application developers for years, independent software vendors (ISVs) still represent a major opportunity for acquirers and processors. It remains the case that 49% of ISVs do not integrate payments functionality into their systems, according to new research from First Annapolis Consulting, an …