The estimated number of U.S. ATMs—including those deployed by financial institutions and independent operators, and branded machines—increased 10.5% to at least 475,000 and as many as 500,000, the ATM Industry Association said this week. The previous estimate, released in 2015, was 430,000, says David Tente, ATMIA’s executive director for the …

The financial crisis of 2007-09 forced many banks to retreat from small-business lending, leaving a gap that digital-payments companies have rushed to fill. The latest move in this direction came Thursday, when PayPal Holdings Inc. said it has a deal to buy Swift Financial Corp., a Wilmington, Del.-based lender founded …

ThreatMetrix Inc., a provider of digital-identity and authentication services, reports that its network detected and stopped 144 million cyberattacks in the second quarter, a 100% increase from 2015’s second quarter. ThreatMetrix says its Digital Identity Network from April through June also stopped 300 million bot attacks in which hackers take …

After two delays, processor Vantiv Inc. and London-based merchant acquirer Worldpay Group plc finally announced a formal deal Wednesday that has Vantiv acquiring Worldpay in a deal that creates a global processing powerhouse. The cash and stock deal values Worldpay at $12 billion, a 34% premium to Worldpay’s six-month volume-weighted …

Litigation between CardFree Inc. and Scvngr Inc., better known as LevelUp, has taken a nasty turn in recent weeks, with LevelUp accusing CardFree of high-pressure tactics outside the courtroom and CardFree charging LevelUp with more instances of fraudulent access to its mobile order-ahead-and-pay system. In its June 21 answer to …

Overall, the forecast is strong for open-loop prepaid cards—loads are expected to reach $353.6 billion by 2020—but not every segment will partake in the growth. That’s the assessment in a new report from Mercator Advisory Group Inc. Open-loop cards, which can be used at most merchants and carry a major …

First Data Corp. executives Monday highlighted rapid growth in the processor’s Clover Network line of tablet-based point-of-sale devices, and also said attrition has come down significantly among small merchants. Not so hot are First Data’s joint merchant-acquiring ventures with big banks, but the company insists their revenue softness is only …

Chinese tourism abroad has already taken off, and it’s expected to grow ever larger in coming years, lifting sales for merchants in the United States and other parts of the world. The latest company to set itself up to cash in on the trend is Marriott International Inc., which on …

Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. on Monday launched triPOS Cloud, a cloud-based application programming interface intended for independent software vendors and merchants looking to integrate payments with point-of-sale systems. As an API, triPOS Cloud enables developers to integrate payments functions with a few pieces of code. The service incorporates encryption and tokenization, …

Citing possible regulatory hurdles, payment processor First Data Corp. and commercial payments provider Fleetcor Technologies Inc. disclosed Thursday that they have canceled the planned joint venture they announced in March to consolidate their gift card businesses. “While both companies believe the proposed joint venture would provide significant benefits to customers …