Industry News

American Express has agreed to acquire Tock, a reservation, table, and event management technology provider, from Squarespace, a platform that helps companies build brands online. Amex has also agreed to acquire Rooam, a company that powers mobile payments, ordering and integrations with point of sale, marketing and loyalty systems used by restaurants and entertainment venues.

Studio Science, a consultancy firm focused on customer experience, has joined J.P. Morgan Payments’ System Integrator Program. The program, which launched in March 2024, brings together J.P. Morgan Payments’ suite of products and adds consulting partners to help clients build, implement, expand and optimize payments strategies.

The U.S. Supreme Court has revived a North Dakota convenience store's challenge to a Federal Reserve regulation on debit card swipe fees. The 6-3 decision reversed a lower court's dismissal of the 2021 lawsuit by the Corner Post, located in Watford City, challenging the 2011 rule governing the amount businesses pay banks when customers use debit cards to make purchases. The dismissal had been based on the store missing a six-year statue of limitations that generally applies to such litigation.

Stet, a European clearing and settlement system, and ACI Worldwide, a provider of real-time payments software, have processed more than 50 million instant cross-border payments in the last 12 months. The companies, which have been working together since 2017, expect that number to increase by more than 50% in 2024. They offer banks and payment service providers across Europe an end-to-end service for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme.

Nuvei, a Canada-based payment processor, has announced that its shareholders have approved the previously announced plan for Neon Maple Purchaser, a newly formed entity controlled by Advent International, to acquire all of Nuvei's issued and outstanding subordinate voting shares and multiple voting shares. The shares that are not held by Philip Fayer, CEO of Nuvei, along with certain investment funds managed by Novacap Management Inc. and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, will be acquired for $34.00 in cash per hare.

Lunar, a digital bank headquartered in Denmark, has partnered with Scandinavian airline SAS to launch the first Visa debit card in the region to offer EuroBonus points on daily purchases. Consumers who are not already members of SAS's EuroBonus program can sign up via flysas.com. Benefits include SAS flights, hotel stays, upgrades and products in the SAS EuroBonus shop. Consumers who are not Lunar users can sign up through the Lunar app.

Nium, provider of real-time cross-border payments, has begun collaborating with Air France and KLM to support payments between those airlines and selected travel agents using the Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) authorization network for closed-loop cards and bank transfers. Payments to travel agents settled through UATP are less expense for airlines to accept than through any of the global brand card networks.

Epson, a provider of printers for POS locations, has announced a multifunction hybrid receipt printer that it claims is faster than any other similar printer. The OmniLink TM-H6000VI is designed to support retailers, grocers and financial institutions that are migrating to newer payment methods but still needing to support point-of-sale transactions. The printer also handles check processing.

Corpay, a corporate payments provider, has expanded its cross-border business with a new office in Auckland, New Zealand. Products include global payments and, in the case of wholesale customers, currency risk management.

Kompliant, a provider of a platform for intelligent automation and compliance, has partnered with Merrick Bank, the 10th largest US merchant acquirer, to digitize and expedite the merchant onboarding process. Kompliant will provide Merrick Bank with workflow automation tools for risk management, compliance efficiency and decision making.

Tietoevry Banking is doubling its capacity for payment card personalization in Riga, Latvia with a new production site. The new facility, which covers 2,000 square meters, is certified by Visa and Mastercard. It will specialize in making customized and sustainable prepaid, debit and credit cards, and will allow Tietoevry to deliver cards across Europe overnight.

Regions Bank and Bill, a financial operations platform for small and midsize businesses, have launched Regions CashFlowIQ, a digital service designed to simplify payments and streamline cash-management for Regions’ commercial clients. It provides accounts payable and accounts receivable capabilities, allowing businesses to initiate bill payments, create and send customized invoices, track payment information, streamline workflow approvals and automate payments from within the Regions OnePass portal.

Chase Payment Solutions, part of J.P. Morgan Payments, has expanded its Tap to Pay on iPhone to include merchant clients in Canada starting with Sephora. The service was launched for US merchants in August 2023.

NMI, a provider of embedded payments, has upgraded its Shopify integration for ISO partners, software providers and payment professionals. The upgrade adds security features and simplifies the merchant experience by enabling direct Shopify account connections.

FreedomPay has launched Merchant Centric Acquiring (MCA), an advisory service for merchants in the US and Canada. Its goal is to provide a comprehensive rate assessment, cost and savings analysis on a monthly and 3-year basis and a choice of MCA-certified processors vetted by FreedomPay.

Elavon, the 11th largest merchant acquirer in Europe and a subsidiary of US Bank, is partnering with Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) to offer contactless payment acceptance from any enabled card or mobile device across transit services. SEPTA is one of the ten largest transit systems in the US. Elavon’s Mass Transit Payment product eliminates the need for terminal equipment and dedicated transit cards.

Maverick Payments will connect to Visa Acceptance Platform, gaining the ability to offer direct transaction routing to VisaNet and Additional Visa Services. The collaboration will allow Maverick to provide direct acquiring rails on the Visa Acceptance Platform along with services that include network tokens, 3D secure, advanced fraud prevention, machine learning acceptance enhancements, Account Updater, and push to card. Additionally, Maverick resellers and merchants will be inheriting the Cybersource catalog, which incudes a shopping cart services and third-party integrations.

ConnexPay, an all-in-one payments platform, has launched its patent-pending Intelligent PayOuts technology. Intelligent PayOuts uses AI along with machine learning and big data to ensure each client delivers the right payment. Earlier this year, ConnexPay announced the launch of ConnexPay Exclusives, a suite of payment capabilities that includes the Global Travel card, Flex card, and ConnexPay UATP card.

Santander's Zinia will become the new consumer finance provider for Apple in Germany. The platform will give customers purchasing Apple products, both in Apple stores and online, the option to defer payments by splitting the total amount into installments of 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. They can also defer the payment 30 days after the shipment (online) or pick up in-store.

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EBay will drop American Express cards as a payment option, citing “unacceptably high fees” in an email to consumers reviewed by Bloomberg News. The change is set to take effect August 17.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized a rule outlining the qualifications to become a recognized industry standard setting body, one that can issue standards to help companies comply with the CFPB’s upcoming Personal Financial Data Rights Rule. The new rule establishes the process for recognizing data sharing standards and is designed to prevent dominant incumbents from squelching startups. The CFPB believes that consensus standards issued by recognized standard setters can help put the Personal Financial Data Rights rule into action and accelerate the financial system’s movement towards open banking.

NCR Atleos has deployed its first multi-bank deposit ATMs in the UK. Initially, ATMs will be connected to the Link ATM network in major retailers.

Ooma, a communications platform for businesses and consumers, has integrated its Ooma Office business phone service with Square. The integration allows users of the Ooma Office desktop app to view information from the Square Customer Directory – including customer name, recent purchase history and upcoming appointments – in a caller ID pop-up when placing or receiving calls.

Payabl, a European PayTech, has integrated four major local payment methods in Latin America – PIX, Boleto, Oxxo and Spei – to its portfolio of local payment methods. Pix and Spei, developed by the Central Bank of Brazil and Central Bank of Mexico respectively, enable consumers to complete online payments via bank transfer through APIs. Boleto is a pre-filled voucher accepted at checkout. Oxxo is a cash voucher system used at thousands of outlets in Mexico.