Accenture Invests in P97 Networks and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 3/1/19

Business-services firm Accenture invested in and formed an alliance with P97 Networks Inc., a cloud-based mobile-commerce firm specializing in automotive. As part of the agreement, Accenture will develop products from P97 for its clients. P97’s PetroZone service is installed at more than 20,000 U.S. filling stations. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Payments company Klarna announced a deal with PayBright, an instant-finance provider, to enable Klarna’s 100,000 retailers to offer a PayBright payment option to consumers in Canada.
National Gift Card said it acquired Benefit Mobile, a digital-payments and fundraising company. Terms were not disclosed.
Security-technology provider Thales S.A. said it reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over its $5.7 billion acquisition of smart card maker Gemalto that enables the deal to proceed. The agreement is subject to court approval, but Thales expects to close the deal this month.
Mobile financial-technology provider Entersekt released survey results that found 33% of more than 1,900 U.S. consumers used a mobile-payment app on a weekly basis, compared with 59% that used a bank app with the same frequency.
Business-to-business payments company Billtrust released results from its Generation Z and Digital Payments Survey of more than 750 consumers aged 18 to 23 that found 79% use a person-to-person payments platform at least once a month.

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