DCPayments Buys First Data’s Australia ATMs and other Digital Transactions News briefs

• ATM network operator Cardtronics plc announced it plans to buy Canadian ATM operator DirectCash Payments Inc. (DCPayments) for $460 million; DC Payments operates 25,000 ATMs and will give Cardtronics its first presence in Australia and New Zealand and expand its operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico.

• In related news, DCPayments announced just before the Cardtronics acquisition that on Sept. 30 it acquired all of First Data Corp.’s 3,500-plus ATMs in Australia for A$55 million ($42.2 million); 2,600 of the machines are retail ATMs and 930 serve financial institutions.

• E-commerce platform provider Shopify Inc. bought Boltmade Inc., a privately held software-development consultancy based in Waterloo, Ontario. Shopify said the acquisition, whose terms were not disclosed, will accelerate development of its Shopify Plus product for high-volume merchants.

• Meta Financial Group Inc. said its MetaBank subsidiary, a major prepaid card issuer, has a deal to acquire the assets of EPS Financial LLC for $42.5 million in stock and cash from EPS’s parent company, Drake Enterprises Ltd., a software developer for tax preparers; EPS Financial provides tax-refund settlement services, merchant processing, and payroll cards.

• Calling the Durbin Amendment to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act “a complete failure,” the Electronic Payments Coalition urged legislators to support repeal of the amendment by approving two bills in the U.S. House of Representatives aimed at that result. The EPC is a lobbying group representing financial institutions and the card networks.

• Mobile-payments platform Mozido LLC announced the Delaware Chancery Court has dismissed all claims lodged against the company by Philip Geier, who, according to Mozido, alleged he had been promised an option to buy 1% of Mozido’s stock in return for 14 months’ service on the company’s board.

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to move 600 workers from its Chase Commerce Solutions office in Salem, N.H., to four other locations beginning in 2018 and eventually close the Salem facility, the New Hampshire Union-Leader reported.