ACI To Acquire Cranium and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 9/1/26
Digital Transactions News staff
September 1, 2026
Acquiring, Competitive Strategies, Digital Currency, E-Commerce, Fraud & Security, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Wallets, Point-of-sale
- ACI Worldwide Inc. announced an agreement to acquire Cranium Ventures, a developer of technology for switching card-based transactions. Cranium will become part of ACI’s Connetic for Cards payments-orchestration unit, launched in March. ACI says its various units process more than 300 billion card transactions per year. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the third quarter, were not disclosed.
- PAR Technology Corp., a payments provider for the hospitality market, launched Guest360, a customer-engagement platform intended to reach customers beyond those enrolled in loyalty programs. The service is live with some clients using PAR’s Punchh loyalty program, with a rollout planned to unfold throughout 2026.
- Point-of-sale system maker OrderCounter said it will integrate Maple’s voice AI platform to enable its clients to use automated phone ordering tools.
- Sixty-two percent of U.S. consumers expect biometric payments to become a common payment method in the next five to 10 years, but only 37% trust the companies behind it, found the “Biometric Payments and Consumer Trust” survey from payments provider Aevi. The survey included responses from more than 3,000 consumers in the United States and United Kingdom.
- Processor FIS announced it is collaborating with Ericsson, a provider of communications technology and transaction processing, to help financial-services firms more quickly launch services based on digital wallets.
- Fraud prevention specialist Forter said retailer David’s Bridal Inc. adopted its fraud prevention platform, taking six days to complete the integration.
- OwlTing Group said its platform supporting cross-border payments using digital currencies generated $255 million in annualized payments volume in August, up nearly 175% from July. The increase was due to an increase in number of payments and in average transaction size, the company said.
- Private aviation firm Amalfi Jets has become the first such company to integrate the Keeta blockchain’s Keeta Wallet to accept cryptocurrency.
- Fifth Third Bank launched its Truly Simple Credit Card, which offers a 0% APR for 18 months on purchases and balance transfers and no annual fee. The card, branded with Mastercard, is intended to reduce financial stress for customers, the bank says.
- USBC Inc. has appointed Richa Pareek chief product officer. Pareek comes to the company from JPMorgan Chase and formerly held senior-level roles at Coinbase, Google, and Uber. USBC is developing technology for tokenized deposits.
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