Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• Marking an end to American Express Co.’s cobranded card losing streak, hotel chain Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. named AmEx as its exclusive credit card issuer effective Jan. 1, according to Bloomberg. AmEx and Citigroup Inc., which took over issuance of the Costco Wholesale Corp. cobranded card from AmEx a year ago, currently share issuance of Hilton credit cards.
• In related news, AmEx chairman and chief executive Kenneth I. Chenault on Thursday will reaffirm the company’s earnings-per-share outlook of $5.60 to $5.80 for this year, according to remarks prepared for the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference.
• Merchant processor iPayment Inc. launched its new payment gateway, Expinet, which it says is designed to allow developers to quickly exploit payment-related opportunities as they occur.
• Glance Technologies Inc. said it has signed The Donnelley Group, a leading hospitality company in Canada, for its Glance Pay mobile-payments service.
• Paysafe Group plc said it now offers in-app Android Pay capabilities to merchants in Canada.
• The Federal Reserve Board announced final amendments to the check collection and return provisions in Regulation CC, which governs the availability of funds and collection of checks, and also requested further public comment on an additional proposed amendment to Regulation CC’s liability provisions. The Fed said the amendments update Reg CC “to reflect the evolution of the nation’s check collection system from one that is largely paper-based to one that is virtually all electronic.”
• While the value of Bitcoin has surged in recent weeks, so has that of Ethereum, another digital currency, increasing over the past month from $48 to $202, according to Bitcoin IRA, which manages retirement funds in both cryptocurrencies.
• Merchant processor Net Element Inc. said its PayOnline unit is providing payment-acceptance services for V-Tell, an international mobile-network operator.
• Independent sales organization National Processing LLC announced the debut of its Trusted Opportunity Program, a referral service for affiliates.
• Payment card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. said its instant-issuance solution, Card@Once, has been enhanced with faster processing times and higher-resolution printing with the introduction of Precision by Card@Once.
• Women in Payments has conferred its Distinguished Payments Professional Award for 2017 on veteran payments executive Donna Embry, chief payments advisor at Payment Alliance International.
