Card Fees Increase 9.9% for C-Stores and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/3/19

Payment card fees paid by convenience stores last year rose 9.9% to $11.1 billion from $10.1 billion in 2017, NACS, formerly the National Association of Convenience Stores, says in its newly released State of the Industry report. The increase in card fees outpaced 2018’s 8.9% increase in total sales, to $654.3 billion. Fuel sales, lifted by higher gas prices, totaled $412.1 billion, up 13.2% year-over-year, while in-store sales grew 2.2% to $242.2 billion.
Thales completed its $5.7 billion acquisition of smart card maker Gemalto Tuesday. Gemalto will form the Digital Identity and Security unit, one of seven global divisions for Thales.
Payment-card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. said its Card@Once instant-issuance platform saw a sales increase of more than 30% year-over-year in 2018.
American Express Co. said it will offer payments services to users of SAP Ariba, a business-to-business software application.
Cardtronics plc added envelope-free deposit capability to BlueShore Financial’s ATMs.

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