Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• 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 CardConnect Corp. reported bank card volume of $5.8 billon in the third quarter, up 34% from $4.4 billion a year earlier.
• Remote deposit capture services provider Cachet Financial Solutions Inc. said it processed 2.47 million transactions in the third quarter, up 2% from a year earlier; revenues increased 124% to $2.3 million.
• Payments provider National Merchants Association LLC announced a streamlined merchant application process. The company also expanded its presence in Europe with a partnership with Borgun Bank in Iceland. The deal enables NMA to offers payment processing to European merchants, it said.
• Airbnb, the hospitality-sharing site, is working with AirPlus International, a payments platform for business travel, to offer a solution to allow business travelers to book and pay for accommodations. The service is expected to be introduced in 2017.
• In related news, a site called FlightLayAway.com has launched to allow users to pay for airline tickets in installments.
• ATM manufacturer and banking services supplier Diebold Nixdorf announced the completion of separate agreements creating joint ventures with Chinese companies Inspur Group and Aisino Corp. that will enable it to sell products in China; Diebold Nixdorf will hold a 40% stake in the Inspur venture and 43.6% of the Aisino venture.
• WP Engine, which hosts Web sites for e-commerce merchants using the WordPress platform, said it has integrated the Payment Request application programming interface, which enables one-click purchases. The Payment Request API is supported on Google’s Chrome 53 for Android.
• The U.S. Department of Justice asked the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its September antitrust decision upholding American Express Co.’s anti-steering rules for merchants, Reuters reported.
• American Express Co. CEO Kenneth Chenault led efforts to raise more than $300 million for the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., according to Bloomberg.
