Competitive Strategies

American Cash Exchange Inc. said its Poni operation struck a deal with Euronet Worldwide Inc.’s Ria money-transfer unit that enables consumers in Mexico to withdraw cash from U.S.-originated remittances at nearly 50,000 Mexican ATMs without paying fees after they buy and register a Poni Cash Card, which costs 10 pesos …

While legislators and regulators focused much of their attention on the Facebook-backed Libra cryptocurrency this week, tariffs on Chinese-made goods re-emerged in Washington as a threat that could raise prices for merchants and merchant acquirers. The Electronic Transactions Association payments trade group filed comments with the Office of the United States …

Shopify Inc. late on Tuesday announced a slew of services aimed at significantly broadening the support the Ottawa, Ontario-based provider offers to small and mid-size merchants. Among these are new point-of-sale software, a fulfillment network, and new checkout-integrated subscription-payment support. The fulfillment network is a first-of-its-kind offering for Shopify, the company …

Online and mobile bill-payment provider Allied Payment Network announced what it says is a “first of its kind” real-time digital bill-payment technology. The company developed the product in collaboration with Finastra, a software provider to financial institutions. Payments provider International Bancard said it was named the official credit card processor …

Commercial Bank of California’s announcement Tuesday that Group ISO Inc. joined its wholesale independent sales organization program signals greater ambitions for the Irvine, Calif.-based bank. Group ISO will use CBC’s BIN sponsorship, a term for bank identification numbers, which is required for acquirers to send and receive transactions from card …

The Facebook-led announcement of the Libra cryptocurrency is evoking blowback both in the United States and overseas. House Financial Services Committee chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) called for Facebook to halt the planned launch of Libra until Congress has had a chance to hold hearings on the cryptocurrency. Elsewhere, the governor …

An association of major payments and technology companies will launch a blockchain-based digital currency called Libra some time in the first half of next year, according to an official announcement on Tuesday. The new initiative, some details about which have leaked in recent days, has the backing of Facebook Inc. …

Its long-term prospects for success are unclear, but the investment and cross-border payments partnership struggling wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. announced late Monday with blockchain-services developer Ripple Labs Inc. certainly produced a short-term bang by doubling the value of MoneyGram’s beaten-down stock. As part of the deal, Ripple invested $30 …

Celero Commerce announced two acquisitions, those of Elmhurst Financial Services and Tandem Innovative Payment Solutions. Following the deals—financial terms were not disclosed for either—Celero will have approximately 25,000 merchants and process approximately $10 billion in annual payment volume. Payment Alliance International said it acquired ISA-ECash, an ATM operator and developer …

Facebook Inc. is expected to release details this week, perhaps as early as Tuesday, on its Libra cryptocurrency initiative, but for now what’s known about the project has at least some experts shaking their heads. “Why a cryptocurrency, and why Facebook?” asks Tim Sloane, who follows digital currencies as vice …