Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• Costco Wholesale Corp., along with Citigroup Inc. and Visa Inc., officially announced the new Citi-issued Costco Anywhere Visa consumer and business credit cards to replace Costco’s American Express Co. cobranded card; the new card gives 4% cash back on gas purchases, 3% back on restaurant and eligible travel purchases, 2% on Costco in-store and online purchases, and 1% on other purchases. Beginning today, Visa is now the only general-purpose credit card brand accepted at the warehouse retailer.
• Merchant processor Elavon Inc. announced it is supporting Apple Pay transactions in Canada on the Visa, MasterCard, and Interac networks, in addition to American Express.
• Diebold Inc. said its acquisition of German ATM manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf gained regulatory clearance from Brazil’s antitrust authority; several other countries already have approved the deal, but it still needs an okay from Poland. Diebold expects the $1.8 billion acquisition to close as planned this summer.
• IFAN Financial Inc., a developer of mobile-payments software, said it has formed a joint venture with commerce-technology company GeoCommerce Inc. to develop customer-engagement solutions.
• Processor Fiserv Inc. said Oklahoma’s Welch State Bank will use its Precision core account-processing platform and its Source Capture Solutions system for image capture of items presented at merchant locations, branches, and through mobile devices.
• Thirty-year Olympic Games sponsor Visa Inc. launched what the network calls its “most ambitious” global Olympics advertising campaign yet as the summer games in Rio de Janeiro approach; the multi-media campaign will feature a “Carpool” theme that will promote Visa’s payment innovations and the diverse group of athletes on Team Visa.
