Acquiring

Processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) is buying acquirer TransFirst Holdings Inc. for $2.35 billion, Columbus, Ga.-based TSYS announced Tuesday. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, puts an end to TransFirst’s plans to explore an initial public offering. Hauppauge, N.Y.-based TransFirst last October filed an …

For e-commerce merchants, the screen is getting smaller very quickly, according to the latest quarterly report from payments company Adyen. Some 17.5% of all e-commerce transactions on Adyen’s platform in the fourth quarter were made with a smart phone, compared to 16% with a tablet, the Netherlands-based company said late …

In 2015, American Express Co. had a bad year. Hit hard by competitive pressures on merchant fees and cobrand-card returns, as well as swooning gasoline prices, the big card network on Thursday reported a 4% decline in revenue net of interest expense for the year to $32.8 billion, its first …

In response to pleas from merchant acquirers, Visa Inc. this month modified a deadline in its program to get small merchants into compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard, a program the leading payment card network announced to acquirers in October. The change affects the usage of qualified integrators …

It’s often neglected in the payments business, but one of the fastest-growing markets is processing cross-border transactions for college and post-graduate students studying abroad. The business is dominated by wire transfers, but a startup called Flywire, which has served the market for more than four years, is enjoying fast growth. …

Subscription payments, also known as recurring billing, is getting renewed attention in the payments industry from companies that provide direct-to-consumer services merchants use, like Recurly Inc., and some providing merchant services, like Fattmerchant Inc. Merchants selling goods and services paid for with subscription payments likely had a busy Cyber Monday …

As the payments industry contends with ongoing state and federal regulatory inquiries, the Electronic Transactions Association will release an updated version of its “Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring” in February. The final edits are being made, says Deana Rich, principal of Deana Rich Consulting Inc., which …

First Data Corp. on Friday said it is joining the market for card readers that plug into mobile phones. Its latest entry in its Clover line of point-of-sale technology is Clover Go, a credit and debit card reader that connects to smart phones and tablets via the mobile device’s headphone …

E-commerce processor Adyen Inc. announced on Thursday it is now offering payments capability for physical stores in the United States, a move that follows the company’s success in providing a payments gateway for a number of prominent digital clients, including Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, and Netflix. Also on Thursday, ATM maker …

Sales agents at independent sales organizations and software vendors have a new mobile point-of-sale service to sell merchants. MyOmny, which is available for smart phones and tablets using iOS and Android operating systems, has launched. Developed by Dallas-based Avalon Solutions Group, myOmny is an app that merchants download to their …