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Heading to Vegas in May for TRANSACT 17? The Strawhecker Group (TSG), a Gold sponsor, will have a significant presence. Schedule an in-person meeting to discuss current pain points and goals for the remainder of 2017. Act now before times fill up!
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Transaction Opportunities
The U.S. Merchant Acquiring transaction market is currently extremely active. TSG is assisting buyers and sellers connect as well as by providing transaction support services to assist both buyers and sellers achieve their objectives.
In addition, TSG has been engaged by several firms to identify ISO and merchant acquiring business acquisitions and capital partnerships. Each client has its own key investment criteria which includes:
- TSYS back-end portfolios with or without sales engine
- Merchant acquiring enterprise businesses with more than $2 billion in card volume, with a sales engine
If you are interested in discussing a potential transaction, please provide high level details of your business and call us at 402-964-2617 - or email us at Acquisitions@TheStrawGroup.com.
All responses will be treated confidentially.
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The financial transaction provider Euronet Worldwide said on Tuesday that it had made an unsolicited bid to acquire MoneyGram for about $1 billion in cash, igniting a potential bidding war for the money-transfer firm. The offer by Euronet, which is based in Leawood, Kan., came after MoneyGram, based in Dallas, agreed in January to be acquired for $880 million by the Ant Financial Services Group, a Chinese online-payment company spun out of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding. Under the terms of the offer, Euronet said it would pay $15.20 in cash for each share of MoneyGram, which is 15 percent more than Ant Financial’s per-share offer and 28 percent higher than the closing price of MoneyGram’s shares before the Ant Financial bid was announced.
Related: Euronet's MoneyGram Bid May Squash Ant
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Vantiv marked its five-year anniversary yesterday as a publicly-traded company with the ringing of the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
“I always say our success is our people,” said Charles Drucker, president and chief executive officer at Vantiv. “Over the last five years, we have grown dramatically and achieved many milestones thanks to our employees’ relentless hard work and winning attitude.
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The NCAA championship basketball tournaments are now underway and Americans—as they do every year—have undertaken a massive distributed illegal gambling conspiracy to wager on the outcomes of the games. Since the tournament draw was announced, about 10% of public transactions on money-transfer app Venmo have been at least superficially basketball related, according to a Quartz analysis of such transactions. This morning (March 16), minutes ahead of the first game, was apparently the peak time to buy in. NCAA betting pools, known as March Madness pools, could have accounted for more than a third of total transaction volume on Venmo at that time.
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This is an exciting time to be in the business of payments. The industry is taking bold steps to create faster, safer solutions for a variety of personal and business payment needs. In fact, the technology for faster payments, including same-day and real-time, exists and is available to provide broad value to the marketplace. Having same-day capability for virtually any ACH transaction, for example, opens up tremendous benefits for anyone who wants to move money, as well as a tremendous amount of information right with the payment, faster. But to fully accelerate the U.S. payments system, industry leaders need to examine the rapidly changing landscape and offer ubiquitous solutions to further the mass adoption of faster payments.
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Remember CurrentC, the mobile payment service that kept getting in Apple’s way when Apple Pay launched a few years ago? MCX is the merchant consortium that was behind the QR code-based mobile payment service that ultimately never launched, and today JPMorgan Chase announced that it has acquired MCX’s payment technology. Chase was one of a few major banks to partner with Apple when Apple Pay launched back in the fall of 2014, but several retailers including CVS and Walmart blocked or denied plans to accept Apple Pay due to an upcoming CurrentC app and commitments to MCX.
Related: Chase’s Technology Deal With MCX Is Likely to Boost Chase Pay As CurrentC Declines
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First Data, a global leader in commerce-enabling technology, announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Acculynk, a leading Atlanta-based technology company that delivers eCommerce solutions for debit card acceptance. The acquisition expands First Data’s robust eCommerce solution suite by providing access to Acculynk’s PaySecure® debit routing technology and its range of other services for businesses of all sizes around the world. “Our global clients conduct business in-store and online, and we are constantly working to give them the most powerful eCommerce assets to make transactions simple, seamless, and secure for their customers,” said Frank Bisignano, Chairman and CEO, First Data.
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Rattle off a selection of payment trends—EMV, tokenization, fraud—and many e-retailers may be beset by apprehension. That’s especially true if the retailer looks to support emerging payment types, according to Matt Herren, director of payments analytics at Computer Services Inc., a Paducah, Ky.-based financial-technology provider. Herren, speaking at the Merchant Risk Council’s annual conference Wednesday in Las Vegas, outlined the various payment trends, their risks to e-commerce merchants, and how merchants could counter those risks.
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KrebsonSecurity l | 3.16.17
For the second time in the past nine months, Google has inadvertently but nonetheless correctly helped to identify the source of a large credit card breach — by assigning a “This site may be hacked” warning beneath the search results for the Web site of a victimized merchant. A little over a month ago, KrebsOnSecurity was contacted by multiple financial institutions whose anti-fraud teams were trying to trace the source of a great deal of fraud on cards that were all used at a handful of high-end restaurants around the country.
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Square Inc. has just scored its oldest customer ever — a 1,200-year-old Buddhist temple in central Japan. Visitors to Mount Koya in Wakayama prefecture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be able to to buy souvenirs and pay entry fees using Square’s white credit card readers, according to a joint statement from the payments company and the religious group operating the facilities. The service will start in time for the Golden Week holidays in early May, Japan’s busiest travel season.
Related: Square Payment Systems Restored After Two-Hour Outage
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Samsung Electronics Co.’s new Galaxy S8 will employ facial-recognition technology for mobile payments within months of release, adding cutting-edge security to help the marquee device stand out from rivals such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone, people familiar with the matter said. The Galaxy S8 to be unveiled later this month will blend fingerprint, iris and facial detection to verify users accessing mobile services including Samsung Pay, the people said. It’s already working with banks to help them embrace facial recognition systems in coming months, they said, asking not to be identified talking about a private matter. Samsung declined to comment.
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Visa announced that it will be starting a new pilot program of contactless payment-enabled sunglasses. The glasses, pictured above, appear to be a regular pair of shades — with the addition of a small contactless card that allows the sunglasses to work as a contactless payment method. The pilot program will take place at the World Surf League’s 2017 Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast competition, which Visa is now also sponsoring. And while the entire idea of payment-enabled sunglasses only kind of makes sense (enjoy the much higher stakes in the event that you lose them), I guess a surfing competition is one of those times when you’d be on a beach and not carrying a wallet, but would want to buy something.
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McDonald’s began testing mobile ordering and payments on Wednesday in select U.S. markets — the first to receive the technology as part of a pilot test aimed at working out the kinks ahead of a full rollout across the U.S. and to other international markets by year’s end. Initially, mobile ordering is available in 29 restaurants in Monterey and Salinas, California, through the company’s mobile application. The test will then expand to 51 more restaurants in Spokane, Washington on March 20, McDonald’s says.
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Venezuela's economy has seen its currency, the bolivar, plummet as inflation has spiraled into the triple digits, causing people there to struggle to meet their daily needs. In response, some Venezuelans have chosen to cross international borders to stock up on needed supplies, as others turn to a black market where goods are often sold in US dollars. Another alternative that has gained traction is bitcoin, a cryptocurrency whose value wobbles frequently and which can be used for clandestine purchases, both licit and illicit.
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Google has added a new peer-to-peer payment feature to its Gmail Android app, marking its return to the competitive P2P space. The service will now allow users of the Gmail Android app to send and receive money once a card is linked to the account. The new feature will not be active on the iOS version of the app at present, but for US Gmail account holders the service will be free to use. The in-app service will allow you to send money to people even if they are not Gmail app users.
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Reuters | 3.16.17
The United States on Wednesday charged two Russian intelligence agents and two hackers with masterminding the 2014 theft of 500 million Yahoo accounts, the first time the U.S. government has criminally charged Russian spies for cyber offences. The charges came amid a swirl of controversies relating to alleged Kremlin-backed hacking of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible links between Russian figures and associates of U.S. President Donald Trump. This has given rise to uncertainty about whether Trump is willing to respond forcefully to any action by Moscow in cyberspace and elsewhere.
Related: Outsourcing Cyber Espionage Landed Russia in Trouble
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CIO Journal | 3.16.17
Biometric security is by no means a new technology, but it is a relatively recent phenomenon in mobile computing, where fingerprint readers are increasingly common. This year, the technology promises to become more widely used than ever before. Deloitte Global predicts not only that the active base of devices equipped with fingerprint readers will top 1 billion for the first time in early 2017, but also that each active sensor will be used an average of 30 times a day, for a total of more than 10 trillion aggregate fingerprint readings globally over the year. By year’s end, at least 80 percent of users with an equipped smartphone will use their fingerprint readers regularly, compared with just 69 percent of users in mid-2016.
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is considering an extension of the effective date for new consumer protection rules covering prepaid debit card accounts. The controversial rules – which some in Congress have threatened to roll back legislatively – are set to take effect Oct. 1, 2017. But in a request for comment issued on March 9, the CFPB offered to extend the deadline for compliance to April 1, 2018.
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As the legal cannabis industry grows in the U.S., competition for customers is heating up. Now, a startup called Baker Technologies has raised $3.5 million to become a “Salesforce for pot.” The company’s software helps marijuana dispensaries bring in new customers and inspire customer loyalty, without running afoul of ever-shifting regulations that govern precisely how these shops can market and sell their goods. Baker CEO and co-founder Joel Milton said that today, the company works with 250 dispensaries in 10 U.S. states where pot is legal, as well as in Canada. Twenty-eight states allow cannabis to be sold and used legally now, Milton noted, but with varying levels of restriction.
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Two former executives of iPayment, Inc., a payment processor based in Westlake Village, have agreed to plead guilty to participating in a scheme that stole more than $5 million from the company. Robert Torino, 63, of Norwell, Massachusetts, who was the chief operating officer of iPayment, and Nasir Shakouri, 40, of Westlake Village, who was the company’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, each agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Torino and Shakouri agreed to plead guilty in plea agreements that were filed this morning in United States District Court.
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The Federal Reserve did more today than increase its benchmark interest rates by a quarter-point, only the third hike in more than 10 years -- it also took an important step forward in a gradual policy transition. Hoping for what I have labeled earlier a “beautiful normalization” of rates, the central bank is moving beyond strict data-dependency and becoming more comfortable about leading markets rather than following them. In the process of becoming more strategic and less tactical, the Fed will, and should, shine more of the spotlight on others with responsibility for economic policy.
Related: Yellen’s Message: My Work Here Is (Mostly) Done
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U.S. finance executives lead in global rankings on economic optimism, according to a new survey from American Express and Institutional Investor Thought Leadership Studio. Across the globe, expectations for “substantial” economic expansion have hit a 10-year high (38%), indicating a surge in optimism. U.S. expectations for substantial economic expansion lead the world by a wide margin (69%, up from 23% last year). Seventy percent of executives worldwide anticipate either “modest” or “substantial” growth this year, up from 64% last year.
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Jamie Walker has been named chief executive officer (CEO) of Atlanta-based Elavon, Inc., a leading global payments company and wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB). Walker is transitioning from his current role as chief administrative officer (CAO) for U.S. Bank’s Payment Services division, a role he has held for two years. During Walker’s 16-year tenure with U.S. Bank, he has successfully managed the finances of Elavon’s $1.5 billion global business as chief financial officer (CFO) and has managed complex initiatives including acquisitions, strategic partnerships and international expansion.
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Visa and StubHub announced they are enhancing their partnership to offer a variety of experiences that put fans at the center of the action. Starting today in Austin – and everywhere – the two brands are unveiling a series of events, promotions and offers designed to help fans everywhere snag the hottest tickets in town. In 2017, Visa and StubHub plan to introduce fans to benefits such as seat upgrades when consumers use Visa Checkout to pay for tickets on StubHub. In April 2017, fans will once again receive a significant discount off their StubHub purchase when they pay using Visa Checkout, repeating a popular offer the two brands first ran during the holiday season last year.
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Latest data show that more than 41 million merchants and over 2 million ATMs across 160 countries and regions accept UnionPay cards. Over 10 million online merchants based outside mainland China support UnionPay Online Payment. UnionPay International offers payment services to both Chinese tourists and global travellers. When improving its acceptance environment, UnionPay International is taking the preferences and payment habits of overseas customers into consideration, providing secure and convenient payment services for various groups of cardholders.
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Global Payments Inc., a leading worldwide provider of payment technology services, is pleased to announce that OpenEdge, its integrated payments division, has launched EdgeExpress Cloud. This new platform is designed to streamline payments integration with SaaS, Deployed, Mobile and eCommerce software applications. Among the simplest payment integration platforms on the market and available exclusively to Global Payments software partners, EdgeExpress Cloud includes a feature-rich API that reduces development cycles and enables faster delivery of software solutions to the end merchant customer.
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Some folks in today's social-media-obsessed world have adopted the mantra of "What other people think about me is none of my business.” But for businesses, people's opinions matter. However, given the number of sites available for people to pour praise — or more realistically, complain — it can be daunting to keep track of everything everyone is saying. For the last two years, U.S. Bank has been relying on technology from ReviewTrackers, a company that aggregates data from public review sites on the web, as a tool to help see how its customers view the bank.
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Did you know that your credit cards can do amazing things? Aside from drawing you into crippling debt while forcing you to be part of the vast cycle of economic servitude, credit cards also offer cash-back on purchases, protection on items you buy and refunds! That’s what Sift wants to help you unlock. “We unlock thousands of dollars’ worth of hidden credit card benefits. Think of credit card benefits like an iceberg — on the surface there are benefits that everybody knows about, like rewards/cash back, but underneath the surface there are all these great benefits that people are unaware of and/or are hard to take advantage of,” said Abhinav Dubey.
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Constellation Payments, a leading gateway and merchant services provider specializing in integrated payment processing solutions for software applications, today announced that it has entered into a strategic agreement with Vantiv, a leading payment processor, to deliver payment facilitator services to Constellation Payments clients. Through the new partnership, Constellation Payments clients can now apply to register and operate as a payment facilitator utilizing Constellation Payments’ proprietary payment gateway and Vantiv’s complete payment facilitator solution.
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TSYS announced that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company®. TSYS has been recognized five times in the last six years, and is one of only seven companies in the financial services industry to receive this multi-year distinction, underscoring its commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices.
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As restaurants and services have looked to upgrade their POS, many of them have had to sacrifice security in order to maintain their workflows and give their patrons the ability to recognize exceptional service. Today, Handpoint is proud to announce its new Tip Adjustment feature, giving greater flexibility and payments capabilities to service providers. Restaurants, salons and other services now can accept integrated EMV transactions, and later adjust those EMV transactions for gratuities written by patrons on receipts. Building on Handpoint’s robust Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), the new Tip Adjustment feature is yet another innovation for ISVs looking to offer the most sought-after functionality, as well as ISOs looking to build integrated payment offerings for merchants.
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Some of WePay's other clients include Zoho, Chargebee, Invoice Ninja, and Constant Contact. To use Apple Pay, shoppers must typically have at least an iPhone 6, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, or Touch ID-equipped MacBook Pro. On other Macs, people can use a linked iPhone or Apple Watch. WePay joins the ranks of a number of other payments platforms with Apple Pay, such as Stripe and Shopify. Such backend support can be critical, since many websites can't afford to build and run their own infrastructure.
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Mastercard today announced the appointment of Randall Tucker as the company’s chief inclusion officer, effective April 3, 2017. In this role, he will evolve and implement initiatives that deliver on the company’s integrated global diversity and inclusion strategy. Most recently, Tucker served at the senior director of inclusion and diversity at Darden Restaurants Inc., where he led the development of a company-wide inclusion strategy to more closely align to the business and support an environment where all employees could reach their greatest potential.
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ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced that Peach Payments, a fast-growing South African payment service provider (PSP), will offer merchants a seamless mobile checkout solution with the ACI Mobile Commerce Software Development Kit (mSDK). Part of ACI's award-winning UP eCommerce Payments solution, the white-label mSDK can be quickly and easily integrated into existing merchant apps, and supports a growing number of relevant alternative payments in both developed and emerging markets.
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Merchant Link, a leading provider of payment gateway and data security solutions, announced today that its TransactionLink™ product together with Ingenico devices has been certified for EMV® Chip and PIN Card acceptance with TSYS for retail, restaurant and lodging in the United States. “Merchant Link has been a leader in the payment security industry, serving restaurants, lodging and retail for over 24 years. Our relationship with Merchant Link spans nearly two decades.
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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered Diebold Nixdorf to sell one of its customer-operated ATM businesses. Last year, the CMA ran an in-depth investigation into the $1.8 billion Diebold/Wincor merger over concerns that the deal would substantially reduce competition in the UK ATM market, leaving only NCR as a credible competitor. Now, the CMA says that if Diebold Nixdorf want the merger to be completed they must sell either Diebold’s or Wincor’s customer-operated ATMs business in the UK to a new owner, to be approved by the watchdog.
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ShopKeep, the cloud-based technology solution that transforms an iPad into a smart, connected cash register that is used by more than 23,000 small businesses, today announced that it has acquired the online ordering software, ChowBOT™, from Meerchant™. The acquisition serves to enable online ordering, payment and delivery options for ShopKeep’s 8,500 and growing quick-serve (QSR) and full service restaurant and bars (FSRB). Through the acquisition, ChowBOT’s features will be directly integrated into ShopKeep’s POS system, providing QSR and FSRB merchants the ability to sync their POS menu to their individual online order site, where customers can make their order selections, complete payment and select between onsite pick-up, curbside pickup, or delivery to receive their purchase.
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Equinox Payments, a leading provider of payment terminals, applications and support services, announced that its Apollo terminal has been certified by First Data to accept EMV transactions using First Data’s Omaha platform. The terminal’s all-in-one Voyager payment application supports processing features needed by retail, restaurant and lodging merchants, and can be configured as a stand-alone or semi-integrated solution.
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TouchTunes, the largest in-venue interactive music and entertainment platform, available in 65,000 bars and restaurants, today announced an exclusive partnership with Harbortouch, a leading national point-of-sale (POS) system and merchant services provider which has served over 300,000 businesses across the country and currently processes over $12 billion in payments annually.
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National Benefit Programs, the leading revenue-generating discount program for the payments industry, has hired Terry Sheff as the new Manager of Client Relations. In her new role, Ms. Sheff will be responsible for enhancing client relationships by providing strategic direction and oversight to help clients maximize profitability and satisfaction, as well as developing new, mutually beneficial relationships within the payments industry.
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The EMVCo Security Evaluation Process was implemented to provide their member issuers with a certification process to ensure security performance characteristics and the suitability of use for smart card related products. It uses independent security evaluation laboratories to assess the security robustness of a smart card product against EMVCo Security Guidelines. UL Basingstoke (UK) laboratory is the main laboratory accredited by EMVCo and the newly provisionally accredited UL Singapore security laboratory is a subordinate to the UK-based laboratory.
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Payment Data Systems announced that it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent to acquire Singular Payments, LLC (“Singular”). Singular Payments is a Fintech payments provider that relies upon innovative technology to process payments for merchants in healthcare and other niche verticals nationwide. Singular is primarily focused on custom software integrations of their flat rate payment processing offerings and their proprietary, simple-to-use electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) platform which allows merchants to streamline the costly and labor intensive process of invoicing and collection.
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Seqr has officially launched Seqr Go!, a prepaid mobile payment app designed for teenagers. It’s now available in the Google Play store. According to Finextra, the first-of-its-kind app is a safe and secure alternative for teens to make purchases and send money to one another. The app is also designed to teach the younger generation about money management and financial responsibility. “Seqr Go! represents a major leap forward for Seqr and the mobile payment market in general. For the first time, someone (Seqr) has provided a safe, smart and youth-friendly mobile payment technology.
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