Competitive Strategies

• Independent sales organization Applied Merchant Systems announced it has increased its liquidity following  an expansion of its credit line with Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending Group and Business Development Corporation of America. In conjunction, Blue Square Resolutions, also an ISO, became a shareholder in the company. • Miami-based NovoPayments, which processes payments throughout …

The 120-year-old automobile is getting a payments makeover. Automaker American Honda Motor Co. Inc. last week demonstrated an in-vehicle payments system for parking and paying for fuel at the 2017 CES, a consumer electronics exhibition in Las Vegas. Honda held the demonstration in conjunction with Visa Inc., Gilbarco Veeder-Root, which …

Founded in 1990 as the national trade group of independent sales organizations, the Electronic Transactions Association is taking on a decidedly technology-oriented hue as the payments industry rapidly evolves. The ETA announced last week that an Apple Inc. executive was elected to a two-year term on its board of directors, …

• The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a U.S. Department of Justice request to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel of the appellate court that, by reversing a lower-court ruling, allows American Express Co. to prevent its merchants from encouraging customers to use lower-cost forms of payment than …

By Jim Daly@DTPaymentNews For the second time in less than two months, a major payments case is coming before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, lawyers for merchants and the state of New York will argue before the eight justices over whether the state’s ban on credit card surcharges constitutes illegal …

• The Electronic Transactions Association announced its 2017 board of directors and officers, including Jeff Sloan, CEO of merchant processor Global Payments Inc., as chairman and president. An Apple Inc. executive also is serving a two-year term on the board—Eric Hoffman, director of Internet software and services. • The Federal Trade Commission is challenging the public …

One of the most intense battles yet seen over card-acceptance costs is over. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced late Thursday it has ended its ban on Visa Inc. cards at 19 Canadian stores as of Friday. “We have come to an agreement with Visa which allows us to continue offering Visa …

Efforts to create unique identification markers for consumers across different merchants will be a challenge for many merchants this year, SIX Payment Services, the payment-processing arm of SIX, operator of Switzerland’s financial-market infrastructure, notes in a report released Wednesday. “Some payment-service providers are working on the idea of introducing a …

U.S. online retail spending through home and work desktop computers in the 2016 holiday season totaled $63.1 billion, up 12% from $56.4 billion in 2015, Internet metrics firm comScore Inc. reported Thursday. “The 2016 online holiday shopping season had another successful year, with desktop growth rates in line with our …

• Merchant processor EVO Payments International has acquired payments-solutions specialist Sterling Payment Technologies. Paul Hunter, Sterling’s president and chief executive, will manage the Sterling unit within EVO. Terms of the deal were not announced. • An app called Clarity Money has debuted to help consumers manage their finances by performing such chores as negotiating bills, choosing …