Competitive Strategies

Yet another development has unfolded in the dueling bids for wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. As Ant Financial Services Group and Euronet Worldwide Inc. compete to acquire MoneyGram, Ant Financial on Thursday issued an open letter to MoneyGram that addresses Ant’s potential commitments to the money-transfer company. In addition to …

• Diebold Nixdorf Inc. claims to be the first ATM manufacturer to support Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft will end support of Windows 7, widely used in ATMs, in January 2020. The company also introduced Essence, an ATM user interface that includes a touchscreen, an encrypted touchscreen PIN pad, …

Jamie Walker’s growth mission as the newly anointed chief executive at Elavon Inc., the acquiring arm of U.S. Bancorp, is squarely focused on e-commerce and furthering the company’s partnerships. That isn’t to set aside its other distribution channels, such as independent sales organizations or its direct-sales efforts, Walker tells Digital …

• The Western Union Co. said it has integrated Apple Pay into its mobile app, allowing U.S. customers to use the mobile-payments service to fund money transfers to more than 200 countries and territories, including domestic bill payments. More than 60% of digital-money transfers on Western Union’s network are initiated on …

For a company looking to grow via acquisitions, the increasing complexity of the payments business can be an advantage. That’s what Atlanta-based Avangate Inc. is banking on. On Friday, the online processor for digital goods clinched a deal to acquire 18-year-old e-commerce gateway 2Checkout.com Inc., and its appetite is hardly …

• In a bid to reach cash-only customers, Amazon.com Inc. launched Amazon Cash, a service that gives users a barcode they can store in their smart phone or print and bring to a participating store to add cash to their Amazon balance. Participating stores include CVS, Speedway, Kum & Go, and …

The price of Bitcoin may have gotten hot in recent months, but investor interest in Bitcoin and blockchain startups could be cooling off. The population of unique investors pouring money into companies dealing in the cryptocurrency and its underlying infrastructure fell 27% last year to 217, according to the latest …

• China-based Ant Financial Services Group’s $880 million bid for wire-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc. is generating increasing opposition in Congress on national-security grounds, according to press reports from Washington. U.S.-based Euronet Worldwide Inc. last month submitted an unsolicited $1 billion bid for MoneyGram. • Avangate, a subscription-management and e-commerce platform, announced …

Co-Op Financial Services, the big credit-union service organization based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., announced Monday that it had acquired Des Moines, Iowa-based payment processor TMG for $100 million. Co-Op had been the minority owner of TMG, until recently known as The Members Group, and bought out the rest of the …

Don’t look now, but decoupled-debit programs may be on the verge of a comeback as merchants look for ways to circumvent payment networks and spur loyalty among consumers. That’s the take from a new report, “Decoupled Debit: The Start of Mainstream Adoption?” issued by Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group Inc. …