Competitive Strategies

Real-time payment fraud is on the rise, even before the expected July launch of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow service. Some 71% of financial institutions reported an increase in consumer account takeover fraud using real-time payment networks from 2021 to 2022, according to a February and March survey of financial-institution executives internationally …

EMTransfer LLC, a real-estate cash-management platform provider, has teamed up with KeyBank to bring real-time payments to the real-estate industry through The Clearing House Payments Co.’s RTP network. Using application programming interfaces from KeyBank, EMTransfer can connect parties involved in the real-estate closing process, such as title insurance and escrow …

PayPal has been known for some time as a major alternative for checkout online, but now the company is making it plain it’s putting considerable resources behind checkouts where its services function entirely in the background. So-called unbranded checkout, led by the company’s Braintree processing platform along with a relatively …

Payrange Inc., a payments provider for the vending and unattended-retail market, announced it has acquired Vagabond, a cloud-based provider of business intelligence for the convenience-retail industry. Terms were not announced. Sales of contactless cards helped payment card manufacturer CPI Card Group Inc. increase overall first-quarter sales 8% year-over-year to $120.9 million, with sales …

Cantaloupe Inc. is rolling out Cantaloupe Go, a line of self-service apps and kiosks that rely on artificial intelligence to enable consumers to purchase products in self-service retail locations, such as micro-markets. Cantaloupe Go comprises Cantaloupe’s line of self-checkout kiosks. which vary in cost, features, and payment-acceptance capabilities; Smart Store …

Payments processor Virsympay, which serves small and medium-size businesses, launched a gateway that supports Google Pay and Apple Pay transactions along with conventional card and automated clearing house payments. Money transfer provider Paysend said Spanish-language content and media company TelevisaUnivision has become a shareholder in the company as part of a multiyear deal …

Presto Automation Inc., a provider of artificial intelligence-based solutions for drive-through restaurants, is rolling out its voice-ordering system at participating Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s drive-throughs nationwide. San Carlos, Calif.-based Presto had been piloting the technology at select Carl’s Jr. and Hardees locations. Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, which together have about …

GoDaddy Inc. reported payments volume from its various commerce services surpassed $1 billion annualized in the first quarter. The Web registrar has launched a number of payments initiatives in the past year, most recently a service that supports transactions through Microsoft Teams. Thinkific Labs Inc., a platform that supports creating, marketing, and …

Buoyed by Cash App, services, and a move up market Block Inc., parent of Square and Afterpay, generated nearly $5 billion in first-quarter revenue, a 25% increase from $4 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Its transaction-based revenue of $1.42 billion was a 15% increase from $1.29 billion …

Shift4 Payments Inc. is still waiting on approval from European regulators to complete its $525-million Finaro acquisition, but in the mean time the Allentown, Pa.-based processor has been busy expanding in its home market. That expansion includes yet other acquisitions aimed at consolidating Shift4’s grip on the restaurant point-of-sale market, …