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The beaten-down shares of vending-machine payments provider USA Technologies Inc. jumped nearly 15% Tuesday on news that a hedge fund had taken a 12% stake in the company. In a regulatory filing, New York City-based Hudson Executive Capital LP said it believes USAT’s “shares are undervalued and are an attractive …
Read More »As U.S. Contactless Card Payments Ramp up, Canada and the U.K. Point the Way to Mass Adoption
Contactless payments account for only an estimated low-single-digit share of U.S. general-purchase credit and debit card transactions, but contactless has a much greater share of payments in Canada and the United Kingdom, recently released data show. Canada’s largest merchant acquirer, Toronto-based Moneris Solutions Corp., says that in the first quarter …
Read More »First Data’s Volume Growth Slowed in the First Quarter, but Brick-and-Mortar Topped E-Commerce
First-quarter growth in leading merchant processor First Data Corp.’s portfolios lagged growth posted in the preceding two quarters, but in a rare event physical merchants posted higher sales increases than their online counterparts. In its latest SpendTrend report, First Data says total payment card spending at U.S. merchants on its …
Read More »Settlements End What the FTC Calls a Massive Robocalling Scheme
A federal judge has ordered the two main perpetrators of what the Federal Trade Commission calls the “massive Pointbreak Media robocall scheme,” part of which involved remotely created checks, to pay $3.37 million to the FTC, the agency announced this week. U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in Miami …
Read More »AmEx Acquires Resy Reservation Platform; Shift4 Unveils Pay-at-Table System
Payments firms continue to strengthen their offerings in the dining sector as evidenced by Wednesday’s announcements from American Express Co., which said it had acquired reservation platform provider Resy Network Inc., and Shift4 Payments, which is launching a pay-at-table system called SkyTab and providing it to new merchants at no …
Read More »Lots of Spaces in the Parking Market Remain for Electronic Payments
Parking is usually a sedate activity, unless you’re competing with another driver for a rare open spot on a busy downtown street or that space closest to the grocery store’s entryway. But parking as a new market for electronic payments is a different story, with intense activity by everyone from …
Read More »Priority Technology Focuses on Growing Segments as Subscription-Billing Business Shrinks
Transaction and dollar volume for Priority Technology Holdings Inc. managed to grow in the first quarter despite the downsizing of the merchant processor’s formerly large online subscription-billing business. Alpharetta, Ga.-based Priority reported Monday that merchant bank card processing volume rose 8.8% to $9.9 billion versus $9.1 billion in 2018’s first …
Read More »Demand for Dual-Interface Cards Contributes To Big U.S. Growth at CPI Card Group
Boosted in part by growing card-issuer demand for chip cards that support both contact and contactless payments, card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. on Thursday reported a 32% first-quarter increase in sales of U.S. credit and debit cards. Littleton, Colo.-based CPI didn’t specify how much dual-interface cards, which can handle …
Read More »The Acquiring Industry Wonders if BofA and First Data Are Heading To Divorce Court
A report that Bank of America Corp. might not renew its joint merchant-acquiring venture with leading payment processor First Data Corp. left observers wondering Thursday what the break-up of one of the payments industry’s biggest players would mean for the companies involved, and the wider industry. The joint venture, Bank …
Read More »ACI Acquires Western Union’s Walletron Mobile Bill-Presentment Business
In an effort to boost its electronic bill-payment offerings, payments-technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc. on Thursday announced its second recent acquisition from The Western Union Co., this one of mobile bill-presentment provider Walletron Inc. Today’s announcement came at the same time Naples, Fla.-based ACI said it will complete its previously …
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