Acquiring

The international money-transfer system Swift said it plans to add what it calls a “blockchain-based shared ledger” to its technology stack in an effort to process instant cross-border transactions. Some 34 financial institutions from 16 countries are advising Swift on the project. The payments platform Lightspeed Commerce introduced Showroom, a service that provides merchants …

Payment processor Adyen will tap the expertise of analytics and consultancy firm TSG to help its merchants tailor payments applications to their needs. In related news, Valor PayTech is teaming with 4LeafLabs to create what it calls an affordable point-of-sale service for small businesses. Adyen,  a Netherlands-based processor initially known …

Fiserv Inc. said it has acquired Smith Consulting Group, a Lake Mary, Fla.-based advisory service for community banks and credit unions. Terms were not disclosed. Reverb, a marketplace for musicians, has introduced its Reverb Wallet, which allows sellers to use marketplace earnings to buy new musical gear. The wallet was developed …

Citigroup Inc. is partnering with Dandelion Payments Inc., a real-time, cross-border payments network, to enable near-instant, full-value cross-border payments into digital wallets globally. Dandelion will integrate Citi’s WorldLink Payment Services into its digital-wallet network to facilitate the payments. The service will initially launch in the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Colombia. …

Landing a coveted merchant account is a top goal for many banks and payment technology firms, but banks may be at a disadvantage. It can cost up to 2.3 times more, on average $496, for a financial institution to onboard a merchant for payment services, as a paytech may spend …

Klarna AB said more than 1 million consumers have signed up for its Klarna Card since the product debuted in the U.S. market July 4. The daily signup rate for the debit card reached 50,000 on Tuesday. The news follows the company’s announcement last month that it has become an in-store payment method …

SoundHound AI Inc., a provider of artificial intelligence-based voice technology, said Red Lobster Hospitality LLC will roll out SoundHound’s AI-powered phone-ordering system across the restaurant chain’s more than 500 locations. The system will enable SoundHound to field all incoming calls for takeout orders, provide answers to common customer questions, such …

Chargeback Gurus introduced its VAMP Risk Calculator, aimed at assisting merchants in calculating their financial liability under the Visa Acquiring Monitoring Program, which will be enforced as of Oct. 1. PayPal Holdings Inc. has agreed to sell, over a two-year period, approximately $7 billion in buy now, pay later receivables originated in …

Mastercard Inc. is working with Alipay+, Ant International’s wallet, to introduce near-field communication capability for overseas transactions on Kakao Pay, a mobile wallet in South Korea. In related news, Mastercard launched its Global Reach Partner Program, aimed at easing expansion into new markets for merchants through consulting and advice. Paga Group, an African …

SpotOn Transact LLC has launched DayCheck, an earned-tip payment app that automates employee tip payouts for restaurants. The app, which integrates with SpotOn’s Teamwork labor-management platform, automatically calculates tips earned by employees. After tips have been calculated, the information flows into Teamwork, which records the payouts in the payroll report, …