Transaction Processing

• Merchant processor Vantiv Inc. announced it will work with data-science specialist Womply to offer Vantiv BizShield and Insights, a service for small and medium-sized merchants that offers real-time data, advanced analytics, online reputation management, and threat management. • Processor Global Payments Inc.’s Campus Solutions unit has introduced TouchNet OneCard VIP, which manages access to …

China-based Ant Financial Services Group, which has a deal to buy MoneyGram International Inc. for $880 million, on Wednesday fired back at Euronet Worldwide Inc. as the two firms fight for the No. 2 U.S.-based wire-transfer provider. Euronet last month submitted an unsolicited $1 billion bid for MoneyGram and has …

• Payments-technology provider VeriFone Systems Inc. said it created a 50-50 joint venture with Gas Station TV that will combine VeriFone’s Pump Media division with Gas Station TV; the venture will operate under the Gas Station TV brand and deliver 3.3 billion annual impressions through 18,000 locations in all 50 states by …

Interac, the Canadian debit network, says a record number of payments were made in 2016 using e-Transfer, its money-transfer service. Transactions totaled 158 million, up 50% from the 2015 total of 105 million. The total value of these transactions reached C$63 billion (US$47.3 billion) in 2016 with an average transaction …

After years of card-data breaches and other bad news, four very encouraging trends are emerging that bode well for better security. Here’s a quick look at all four: Integrators are taking the QIR program seriously. When the PCI Security Standards Council and Visa Inc. initially released the Qualified Integrator and …

• Merchant processor CardConnect Corp. is paying $39 million for its previously announced acquisition of MertzCo Inc. consisting of $12 million in cash and 1.98 million shares of CardConnect stock valued at $27 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from CardConnect. • Visa Inc. has begun allowing issuers of Visa-branded commercial cards …

Electronic-payments industry efforts to promote card use may be paying off. Significantly more consumers are using credit cards for low-value purchases of $5 or less than they did in 2016. A CreditCards.com survey released Monday found that 17% of consumers typically used their credit cards for these in-store transactions compared …

Payments providers have long recognized how extending credit can create consumer transactions where none would otherwise have occurred, but lately the idea of instant credit is gaining momentum. Companies like Klarna and Affirm have made a splash with on-the-spot credit for online purchases. Now, Austin, Texas-based Vyze Inc. is out to …

The subject of faster payments has been in the news almost continually for months now, but apparently awareness of the subject, and in some cases adoption, remains lower than expected among the financial institutions that will be depended on to implement speedier settlement. That’s if survey results released this week …

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 …