JPMorgan Chase Bank and its merchant-acquiring affiliate Paymentech have filed a breach-of-contract suit against restaurant operator and Paymentech merchant Landry’s Inc. seeking to recover $20 million in fines from Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. stemming from a 2014-15 data breach at dozens of Landry’s properties. The bank and processor, collectively called …
Read More »Mitek Systems Buys France’s A2iA To Bolster Its Presence in Mobile Imaging
Mitek Systems Inc. announced Wednesday that it acquired Paris-based Artificial Intelligence and Image Analysis (A2iA), a developer of text-recognition and imaging software, for €42.5 million ($49.8 million) in cash and stock. The move bolsters San Diego-based Mitek’s already strong position in the remote deposit capture market and gives it access …
Read More »First Data Buys Big Student-Loan Servicer’s Technology Platform
Payment card processor First Data Corp. is getting into student-loan processing with its acquisition of Navient Corp.’s technology platform. Terms of the deal announced Wednesday were not revealed. An undisclosed number of Navient employees will become First Data employees, and Jeff Whorley, who has been group president of asset management …
Read More »Credit Unions Hold the Line on ATM Fees, Bankrate Study Finds
Bankrate LLC’s latest study of checking account pricing at credit unions found that ATM surcharges and foreign fees haven’t changed much in the past year. The April study of the top 50 credit unions by deposits revealed that ATM surcharges—fees charged by ATM owners to non-customers who use their machines—actually …
Read More »PayPal Is Buying Sweden’s iZettle for $2.2 Billion
In its biggest acquisition yet, PayPal Holdings Inc. is buying Stockholm-based payments firm iZettle AB for $2.2 billion. The San Jose, Calif.-based online payments provider late Thursday confirmed an afternoon of rumors about the pending deal. Jacob de Geer, iZettle’s chief executive and co-founder, will stay on after the acquisition’s …
Read More »Payment Processor Spindle Cancels an Acquisition, But Rents the Target Company’s CEO
The struggling merchant processor Spindle Inc. canceled its planned acquisition of independent sales organization and gateway provider VyaPay, but reported Wednesday that it plans to form a so-called strategic alliance with VyaPay, and VyaPay’s chief executive will provide day-to-day management of Spindle. Mesa, Ariz.-based Spindle, whose shares trade over the …
Read More »Eye on Transit: How Payment Convenience Could Boost Ridership; DART Updates Mobile App
It’s easy to see how convenience in the form of longer service hours and lower fares might increase ridership on public transportation systems, but new survey results show that mobile apps that combine various transit options, including payments, could also boost ridership. London-based mass-transit software developer Masabi Ltd. recently released results …
Read More »Chili’s Reports Malware-Related Data Compromise at Company-Owned Restaurants
An undetermined number of Chili’s Grill and Bar restaurants sustained a data breach in March and April, Chili’s parent company Brinker International Inc. reported over the weekend. Dallas-based Brinker divulged few details in a Saturday post on the Chili’s Web site and in a new release the same day. It …
Read More »Cardlytics Prepares for a Potential Tripling of Its Active User Base by 2019’s End
Cardlytics Inc. is building its infrastructure to support as many as 200 million monthly active users of its merchant-funded rewards program by the end of 2019, more than three times the 60 million it currently has, company executives said Thursday. The big expansion comes as Cardlytics’ grows its business with …
Read More »U.S. Worldpay Merchants Begin Migration to Vantiv Platform
Worldpay Inc. reported Thursday that the integration of its predecessor companies, U.S.-based Vantiv Inc. and United Kingdom-based Worldpay Group plc, continued apace in the first quarter, and that revenues on a combined basis grew 12% year-over-year. The 115,000 merchants served by pre-merger Worldpay’s Atlanta-based U.S. operation are moving to Vantiv’s …
Read More »
