Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• PayPal Holdings Inc. will not follow through on plans announced two weeks ago to expand in Charlotte, N.C., and add 400 jobs because of North Carolina’s recently enacted House Bill 2, which PayPal says “perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture.” The law intends to restrict bathroom use by gender, but has been viewed by many as a discriminatory measure against transgender, gay and lesbian people.
• Presidential candidate Donald Trump said the way he will force Mexico to pay for his proposed border wall is by blocking money transfers that Mexican immigrants send home, according to Bloomberg News, which says the move could be potentially devastating to the Mexican economy. It remains unclear, however, under what authority Trump could enact and enforce such a ban.
• The Trump Hotel Collection, a portfolio of luxury hotels, has another payment card breach to contend with, reports KrebsOnSecurity.com, which says the company is investigating the matter but has scant details. This could the second time in less than a year Trump Hotel Collection has been breached. KrebsOnSecurity reported in July 2015 a suspected breach at the hotels.
• Transaction Network Services (TNS) launched TNSConnect2All, a single-messaging specification that enables links to multiple acquirers and processors through a single connection to TNS. The specification also simplifies certification of new devices to a variety of payments platforms, TNS says.
• Testing center UL says its Brand Test Tool is now certified by the Debit Network Alliance to validate payment processing made using the DNA Share Debit AID, an essential code for many EMV debit transactions.
• MasterCard Inc. named Raj Seshadri president, U.S. Issuers, responsible for the network’s partnerships with American card-issuing banks and credit unions. Seshadri comes to MasterCard from investment manager BlackRock Inc., where she led the company’s iShares exchange traded fund business in the U.S.
• Former Discover Financial Services executive and consultant Beth Horowitz Steel has joined payments consultancy Glenbrook Partners as a partner.
• Mobile-payments service OmnyPay named former MasterCard Inc. executive Mung Ki Woo as chief partnerships and international officer. OmnyPay in the past week also announced its one-step redemption of loyalty, rewards, coupons, and offers with mobile payments is available globally now.
• Sage, a provider of accounting and payments-acceptance products, announced the Sage Payment Center, which enables small businesses using Sage accounting software to more easily access the credit and debit card acceptance capability built into the software.
• U.S. merchant processor EVO Payments International announced it has integrated payments gateway AEVI to ease cross-border processing in Europe.
