Industry News

The Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will hold a joint public meeting on July 19, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. EDT on the proposal by Capital One Financial Corporation to acquire Discover Financial Services. The meeting will be held virtually. The purpose of the public meeting is to collect information from a wide range of stakeholders as the agencies evaluate the proposed applications. Members of the public seeking to present oral comments must register by 12:00 p.m. EDT on June 28, 2024. Comments on the applications will be accepted through July 24, 2024.

A federal judge in Texas has temporarily halted a directive from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to lower late fees on credit cards to $8. The temporary nationwide injunction imposed by Judge Mark Pittman in the Northern District of Texas is a reprieve for major credit card issuers, which collect several billions of dollars in revenue each year in late fees and were looking to stop the proposal from going into effect. The temporary injunction is a win for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which led the lawsuit on behalf of the issuers.

Revenue of $205.7 million increased 11.2% from $185.0 million. Adjusted gross profit (a non-GAAP measure2) of $76.4 million increased 21.2% from $63.1 million. Adjusted gross profit margin (a non-GAAP measure2) of 37.1% increased 300 basis points from 34.1%.

On a per-share basis, the Atlanta-based company said it had a loss of 31 cents. Earnings, adjusted for restructuring costs and non-recurring costs, came to 13 cents per share. NCR Voyix expects full-year revenue in the range of $3.6 billion to $3.7 billion.

Annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew to $185.7 million - total growth of 60.2% and organic growth of 24.8% from $115.9 million reported in Q1 '23. Quarterly subscription service revenues increased 37.2% YOY from Q1 '23. Par acquired Stuzo, a digital engagement software provider to convenience and fuel retailers, contributing $41.0 million in Q1 '24 ARR.

Second quarter revenue was $93.9 million, an increase of 20.2% over the prior year's second quarter. Revenue for the six months ended March 31, 2023, was $179.9 million, an increase of 18.3%. Second quarter net loss was $0.2 million, compared to net loss of $10.4 million in the prior year's second quarter. Net loss for the six months ended March 31, 2023, was $23,000, compared to a net loss of $14.1 million in the prior year's first six months. Second quarter net income attributable to i3 Verticals, Inc. was $36,000. Net loss attributable to i3 Verticals, Inc. for the six months ended March 31, 2023, was $0.2 million.

The company reported a 7% decline in net sales to $112 million and a 50% drop in net income to $5 million, compared to the same period last year. Figures fell short of analyst expectations, which had estimated earnings per share of $0.41 and net income of $3.85 million on revenue of $103.63 million. The company's gross profit margin improved slightly from 35.7% to 37.1% YOY despite the drop in gross profit from $43.1 million to $41.5 million.

PSCU/Co-op Solutions,a payments credit union service organization and an integrated financial technology services provider, is rebranding as Velera. The new Velera brand will be rolled out in a phased approach over the next year. The Co-op Solutions brand will be retained for the company’s ATM Network and Shared Branching consumer-facing solutions.

FIS has launched a platform to support businesses and software developers wanting to embed financial services into their offerings. Atelio by FIS is made up of components that support collecting deposits, moving money, issuing cards and sending invoices. It also provides tools to fight fraud, forecast cash flows, and analyze customer behavior. Early clients are KeyBank, College Ave and RoyalPay Inc.

Nuvei, the Canada-based payment processor, reported total volume increased by 42% to $60.1 billion. Organic total volume growth was 18% with Organic total volume at constant currency increasing to $50.0 billion from $42.4 billion. Revenue increased 31% to $335.1 million from $256.5 million. On April 1, 2024 the company agreed to be taken private by Advent International.

PayNearMe, operators of the MoneyLine payments platform for iGaming and online sports betting, will integrate Trustly's open banking services, allowing clients to accept guaranteed ACH deposits. Clients will also be able to instantly transfer winnings into players' bank accounts without requiring them to enter their bank account details.

Visa has updated its Visa Account Attack Intelligence (VAAI) by adding a VAAI score that uses generative AI to identify and score enumeration attacks for issuers. Enumeration attacks use sophisticated technologies like automated scripts and botnets to amplify their card testing attacks, allowing fraudsters to better exploit vulnerabilities in card-not-present transactions. The VAAI Score will be available to US issuers first.

Volante Technologies, operator of a cloud-based Payments as a Service platform, has achieved Fedwire Funds Service certification for the ISO 20022 messaging capabilities of its wire payment processing services. Certification gives Volante customers a fourteen-week pathway to ISO 20022 compliance for their own wire payments operations. Customers include four of the top five global banks and two global card issuers.

Unit21, a company that mitigates risk tied to money laundering, fraud, and other illicit activities, has launched two new products — ACH Risk Scores and Action Event Rules. Both are designed to combat faster-payment fraud while delivering near-instant funds to legitimate customers. ACH Risk Scores creates a machine learning score that allows customers to proactively block accounts that exceed set chargeback thresholds. Action Event Rules helps financial institutions monitor and act on non-transactional actions, including login attempts, password changes, address updates, and modification of user or account details.

The US Payments Forum has published a new white paper on the synergy between connected cars and contextual payments. It covers real-world examples of how a growing number of connected vehicles could provide new opportunities to automate and integrate payment processes for both drivers and passengers. The white paper can be downloaded here: https://www.uspaymentsforum.org/connected-car-and-contextual-payments/

Adyen, a multinational acquirer, has partnered with open-banking platform provider Tide to offer Tide commercial accounts to small and midsized businesses in Germany. Tide will add invoicing and accounting services later in 2024. For Adyen, this is the first launch of its banking-as-a-service solution in Germany, and the program could expand into Europe. Tide also offers businesses open banking services in India and the UK.

Checkout.com, a global provider of digital payments, has a partnered with Mastercard to bring virtual cards to Online Travel Agents as part of the Mastercard Wholesale Program. Over 400,000 travel providers worldwide already use the program to pay suppliers for B2B travel.

NPCI International Payments, the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has entered into an agreement with the Bank of Namibia for developing an instant payment system like India's Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for the African nation. This partnership marks NPCI’s first-ever collaboration with a central bank to deploy the UPI stack in an international market.

Worldpay, the second-largest merchant acquirer worldwide, will allow payment facilitators (PayFac) to offer its Tap to Pay on iPhone product to their merchants. Tap to Pay lets merchants accept contactless payments, including contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and other digital wallets. So far two PayFac partners, Fullsteam and Autobooks, have launched the new service.

Yuno, a global payments-orchestration platform, is partnering with payments-gateway and processor Kushki to optimize digital payments in Latin America. Yuno provides security measures for cross-border transactions throughout Latin America and access to over 300 payment methods in 50 countries. Kushi's technology is designed to reduce transaction costs and complexity for payment by card, wire transfers, cash and payouts.

First-quarter net income was $3.01 billion. Profits per share after adjustments for nonrecurring costs came to $3.31, exceeding analysts's predictions of $3.22 per share. Revenue of $6.35 billion also beat analysts' projections which were $6.33 billion.

Marqeta, a card issuing platform that enables embedded finance, has expanded its US partnership with Uber Eats into eight additional markets: Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Costa Rica. Marqeta began partnering with Uber in 2020 and helped launch the Uber Pro Card via Marqeta's US-based workplace-led financial services provider Branch. Uber Pro Mastercard cards are issued by Evolve B&T.

Borderless AI, a provider of Employer of Record services that support global payroll programs, has added real-time, cross-border payments from Nium, aiming to reduce delays and inefficiencies in processing. Access to Nium's platform allows Borderless AI's to provide its clients with instant funds transfers for payroll, taxes, expenses, and financial obligations across 190+ countries.

Central Payments will provide its PayCP payout platform to Street Charity, allowing the nonprofit to distribute Discover prepaid cards to consumers wanting to help the hungry. Cards have a fixed value that covers the cost of a meal along with state sales tax, and can be redeemed at quick-serve restaurants in the US that accept Discover. Donors who wanti to hand out the cards can pay a monthly subscription fee of $35 or more to have four cards mailed directly to their homes. Street Charity can also send cards directly to community-organization partners.

Klarna, a global BNPL provider with 37 million customers and 550,000 retailer partners, will integrate with PubMatic, a provider of digital advertising, Initially in the US, will alow advertisers to reach shoppers from awareness to consideration to conversion.