Transaction Processing

By Kevin Woodward Facebook Inc.’s newly launched integration of Uber, the car-hailing service, into its Messenger app relies on e-commerce-transaction processor Braintree to provide the payments connection. Facebook on Wednesday updated its Messenger communications app with a Transportation option that enables users to request a ride from a car service …

When Global Payments Inc.’s chief executive, Jeffrey S. Sloan, called his counterpart at Heartland Payment Systems Inc., Robert O. Carr, a couple of months ago, he had in mind the potential for a massive acquisition in the acquiring business. But, in making that call, he also took the latest step, …

The low cost and convenience of peer-to-peer payments may be ready to cannibalize a portion of the traditional wire-transfer market, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research. The report also finds that mobile P2P is important to all consumers, not just Millennials, often considered the most likely …

By John Stewart n If, as the saying goes, cash is king, it’s clinging stubbornly to its throne. Despite the emergence of e-commerce and the secular rise of payment cards around the world, cash usage is growing nearly as fast globally as cashless payments, according to a report released this …

Confirming rumors that have been rife for days, merchant acquirer Global Payments Inc. announced late Tuesday that it will buy smaller rival Heartland Payment Systems Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $4.3 billion. At $100 per share, the deal represents an 18% premium over Heartland’s closing share price Tuesday. …

2016 could be an auspicious year for mobile payments growth. That’s if a forecast from eMarketer Inc. proves correct. The New York-based research firm predicts that the number of consumers making mobile payments at the point of sale with smart phones will hit 37.5 million in 2016, a 61.6% increase …

There have been IPOs galore in the payment industry of late and merchant acquirer TransFirst is in the dock, and the acquisitions of independent sales organizations by bigger processors continues unabated. But there hasn’t been an acquisition of a big, publicly held payment processor by another in some time. That …

By John Stewart Thursday’s surprise announcement by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that the retailing titan will roll out its own mobile-payment service next year raises questions about its commitment to Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), the mobile-wallet consortium that Wal-Mart helped launch three years ago. Starting this month, Wal-Mart will begin …

An analysis of recent credit and debit card transaction data by credit-union services organization The Members Group gives some interesting insights about the penetration of two new payment channels in the U.S.—EMV chip cards and mobile payments. For example, EMV transactions amounted to 26% of all transactions that TMG processed over …

  Publicly-held merchant acquirers were the best-performing payments stocks of 2015, investment-advisory firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods says in its “2016 Outlook: Pay for Growth in This Environment” report released Tuesday. Among the acquirers and processors KBW tracks are PayPal Holdings Inc., Global Payments Inc., Vantiv Inc., Heartland Payment Systems …