News

January, 2016

• 26 January

  In a Bid to Build on Strengths, TSYS Clinches a $2.35 Billion Deal To Buy TransFirst

  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 …
• 25 January

  With an Improved Price Performance, Bitcoin Faces a Debate Over How to Grow

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average has skidded about 8% since the end of 2015, putting a scare in investors and prompting talk of everything from a market correction to another recession. Unnoticed, however, is that the price of the digital currency Bitcoin has followed an almost identical path, dropping approximately …
• 25 January

  Euronet’s HiFX Marks U.S., Canada International Funds Transfer Debut

  Corporations and wealthy consumers have a new option when they need to move funds internationally. HiFX, a unit of Euronet Worldwide Inc., has begun offering its services to U.S. and Canadian clients. Acquired by Leawood, Kan.-based Euronet in 2014, U.K.-based HiFX enables users to transfer funds internationally in 28 currencies, …
• 25 January

  For the First Time, Smart Phones Beat Tablets for Share of Online Transactions, Adyen Says

  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 …
• 21 January

  AmEx Plans $1 Billion in Cost Cuts As Part of an Effort to Rebound From a Sub-Par 2015

  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 …
• 21 January

  Starbucks Gets a Jolt From Its Fast-Growing Mobile Offerings

  Starbucks Corp. keeps adding digital caffeine to its mobile-payments and loyalty offerings built around a prepaid card. The Seattle-based coffee king on Thursday reported that 21% of its U.S. transactions were paid on the Starbucks mobile app in the quarter ended Dec. 27, up from 20% in the previous quarter …
• 21 January

  Visa Tweaks a Deadline, but Proceeds With PCI Compliance Plan for Small Merchants

  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 …
• 21 January

  Focusing on Big Banks And Merchants, ACI Sells Its E-Banking Unit to Fiserv

  Payments-technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc. said it plans to sell its Community Financial Services (CFS) unit to bank processor Fiserv Inc. for $200 million in cash. CFS, which provides online and mobile banking and payments and security services to community banks and credit unions, generated about 22% of ACI’s $1.02 …
• 20 January

  Flywire’s Deal to Buy Canada’s ScholarFX Adds to Its Growing Niche in Tuition Payments

  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. …
• 20 January

  Eye on E-Commerce: eBay Data on Holiday Shopping; ACI’s Attempted-Fraud Report

  E-commerce merchants and the payments companies providing them with merchant services have reason to be both happy and disappointed with the 2015 holiday season. On the one hand, merchants handled the voluminous number of e-commerce orders by using their physical stores to fulfill their online sales. The volume of these …