🏆 TSG Announces 2022 Top Performing Payment Gateways
Recognized payment gateway companies include CSG Forte, FIS, Elavon, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America
TSG is pleased to recognize a selection of payment gateways for their exceptional performance across several key areas critical to a successful payment platform.
In collaboration with a team at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, MIT experts have begun designing and testing technical research through which further examination of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) can be performed in the U.S. The effort, known as Project Hamilton, is in an exploratory phase, and the research is not intended as a pilot or for public deployment. Instead, the researchers have explored two different approaches that could be used to process transactions, and thus could indicate the technical feasibility of a potential CBDC model.
Block (formerly Square) announced that it has successfully closed its acquisition of the "buy now, pay later (BNPL)" company Afterpay. The recently-renamed firm originally announced plans to purchase the payment processing company for AU$39 billion back in August of last year. Jack Dorsey, Block co-founder and CEO, said the addition of the new assets will help his company to "deliver even better products and services for sellers and consumers while staying true to [its] shared purpose of making the financial system more fair and accessible to everyone."
As all payments companies know, some active accounts are more active than others. On Tuesday, PayPal Holdings Inc.’s top executives made it plain the company’s 2022 priority is to emphasize—and pour money into promoting—accountholder activity. “The shift is, we’re not going to throw marketing dollars at low-value customers coming in,” declared chief executive Dan Schulman during an afternoon session to discuss his company’s fourth-quarter 2021 results. That means, he said, that “we are shifting our emphasis toward engagement.”
May require account to read. U.S. lenders issued more credit cards than ever last year, with a growing share of them going to consumers with lower credit scores. A record 196 million Americans held cards at the end of 2021, according to a report by the credit-data agency TransUnion. In the third quarter, the latest for which detailed numbers are available, the number of new cards issued hit an all-time high of 20.1 million, it said. Some 9 million of them went to so-called nonprime borrowers — those with poor or fair credit.
Just months after his confirmation in September, he has ordered two high-profile investigations into the payments industry, taking on tech titans Google, Apple and Amazon in a new examination of their payment products and separately demanding information from major buy now-pay later players, including PayPal, Affirm and Block's Afterpay. He's also reviewing policies related to earned wage access and increased financial institution data sharing. Chopra is positioning himself to have significant influence in setting policy on a wide range of payments fronts as the financial services industry is caught up in a fast-changing environment.
The modern ACH Network experienced significant growth in 2021, with 29.1 billion payments valued at $72.6 trillion, and Same Day ACH payment volume grew nearly 74%, new figures from Nacha show. ACH Network payment volume was up 8.7%, or 2.3 billion, over 2020, marking the seventh consecutive year volume grew by at least 1 billion payments. The value of those payments rose 17.4%, or $10.8 trillion, making 2021 the ninth straight year to see a payment value increase of at least $1 trillion.
U.K. digital bank Monzo is officially entering the U.S. market this week. The startup announced it’s now allowing U.S. clients to apply for a Monzo account. Monzo has been in closed beta for the past 18 months, during which time it has onboarded thousands of new U.S. customers, processed millions of dollars of transactions, and gathered user feedback. The company has launched new features inspired by this feedback, one of which is a salary sorter. This tool that helps users divide their paycheck, separating their spending, savings, and bills once their paycheck is received.
Ryan Breslow, founder of checkout technology startup Bolt, stepped down as the company's CEO Monday to become its executive chairman after attacking two high-profile players in Silicon Valley. Breslow unleashed a Twitter thread last month calling out global payments fintech Stripe and startup accelerator Y Combinator as complicating his company's beginnings. "The pro-startup payment processor was on a mission to make sure no other payments company would ever be built in Silicon Valley," Breslow tweeted last week.
Insurance is one of the new battlegrounds for digital banks, as they look to boost revenues by offering payment protection in areas including foreign travel, phones and even income. Now, Revolut, with barely a paw-se for thought, has moved into pet insurance in the UK. And the neobank has even appointed a canine chief pet officer, although it's unclear if one-year-old Shiba Inu named Sam will be giving media interviews.
Experian is launching The Buy Now Pay Later Bureau this spring, which the Irish credit data company calls a “first-of-its kind” operation designed to protect consumer credit scores from and drive more inclusive and responsible lending. The announcement, published Wednesday (Jan. 26) on the Experian blog, comes less than two weeks after the Irish credit data company said it had seen a rise in demand for buy now, pay later (BNPL) services.
It’s tax season again, and TurboTax is ready with a message for its 20 million users: This year, you do not have to settle for another boring refund check. Instead, the New York Times‘s DealBook reports today that the tax software company is going to give users the option of receiving their federal and state refunds in cryptocurrency. To do this, TurboTax has teamed up with Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange platform in the country (also the one that New York Mayor Eric Adams is using to get his salary in Bitcoin and Ether).
As analysts and investors pored over Google’s record Q4 results Tuesday, which were led by strength in its burgeoning cloud computing business and legacy search and advertising empire, the company’s evolving eCommerce and retail story would not be denied its chance to also be in the limelight. “I've said it before and I'll say it again; The future of retail is omnichannel,” Google Chief Business Office Philipp Schindler told analysts and investors on the company’s earnings call, before outlining plans to further invest in new features and next-gen experiences that benefit merchants and shoppers alike.
Starbucks posted mixed first-fiscal quarter earnings results compared to Wall Street estimates, as soaring inflation, higher worker costs and the impact of the Omicron variant took a toll on the restaurant industry at large — and the coffee giant in particular. "We experienced higher-than-expected inflationary pressures, increased costs due to Omicron and a tight labor market," president and CEO Kevin Johnson said in the release.
There are hundreds of thousands of conveniently located secure lockers where retailers can use a carrier of their choice to deliver packages. Plus, customers can pick them up at their convenience—and often even send returns back from the same locker. The lockers, naturally, are high-tech: Both shoppers and carriers unlock them with QR codes or apps. Virtually no package theft or missed deliveries. The bad news? These lockers are easily accessible all over Europe and Asia…but they’re not in the US.
Walmart is looking to put the “wow” in its stores. The retail giant unveiled a new, signature experience at its incubator location (Store 4108) in Springdale, Ark. The goal is to make Walmart a destination where customers want to spend their time, the company said. In fall 2020, Walmart introduced the first phase of its store redesign, which was focused on navigation and wayfinding. Nearly 1,000 stores have since been renovated with the design.
Swiss prosecutors are pursuing around 42.4 million Swiss francs ($45.5 million) in compensation from Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) in a money-laundering trial due to begin on Feb. 7, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (FCC) said on Monday. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) indicted the bank in December 2020 after an investigation into the activities of a Bulgarian crime ring involving top-level wrestlers accused of laundering profits from cocaine trafficking.
One of the most popular cross-blockchain bridges may have been the victim of a hack worth over $326 million on Wednesday. In a tweet, the project’s official Twitter handle confirmed that the bridge is currently down while the team investigates a potential exploit, and the official website simply reads, “Portal is Temporarily Unavailable.” On-chain analysts called attention to an 80,000 ether (ETH) transaction from Wormhole to an address currently in possession of over $250 million worth of ETH.
Coming up on two years since the short-lived 2020 recession, the United States appears to be at the midpoint of an economic cycle that should continue to see growth even as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to bring inflation under control, National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “The maturing economy remains in growth mode and there is good reason to expect it will soon approach normal trends,” Kleinhenz said.
Jobless claims trended lower in the latest weekly data, underscoring still-elevated demand for workers even as Omicron-related disruptions continued to exert pressure on the labor market. First-time unemployment claims fell for a back-to-back week after rising to the highest level since October in mid-January, coming in at nearly 300,000. The spike in claims tracked a surge in coronavirus cases across the U.S. between December and January, which rendered many businesses temporarily closed and many individuals sick or concerned over becoming ill at work.
Elavon, a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank and one the largest payments processors globally, is proud to be honored by The Strawhecker Group (TSG) in its 2022 Real Transaction Metrics Awards. Powered by TSG’s Gateway Enterprise Metrics (GEM) platform, GEM uses pings and real transactions to monitor each gateway’s performance from over 20 different global locations 24/7/365. All transaction metrics are calculated by utilizing real TSG cards to complete transactions at real TSG merchants around the globe.
Paysafe, a leading specialized payments platform, announced the completion of its SafetyPay acquisition. SafetyPay is a leading payments platform operating primarily in Latin America that enables eCommerce transactions via a wide choice of open banking and eCash solutions. For Paysafe, this latest deal further strengthens its strategic foothold in Latin America, building on its recently announced acquisition of Peruvian payments platform, PagoEfectivo.
North American Bancard, LLC (NAB), a progressive payment technology company with an advanced product platform, is proud to be honored by The Strawhecker Group (TSG) in its 2021 Restaurant Smart Terminal Provider of the Year award. The award is part of TSG’s Payments Excellence Awards, which recognize organizations that embody the vision, dedication, and demonstration of excellence in the payments world. TSG is honoring North American Bancard’s Payanywhere for its commitment to serving restaurants of all types with its forward-thinking product suite.
Financial technology leader FIS® (NYSE: FIS) announced that it has been named to the FORTUNE Magazine 2022 World’s Most Admired Company list. The FORTUNE study measures companies with the strongest reputation within their industries. FIS was one of only a small number of financial technology providers on the 2022 FORTUNE list. FIS received high marks for global competitiveness, financial soundness, innovation, quality of products and services, people management, social responsibility, and use of corporate assets.
Lightspeed Commerce Inc., the one-stop commerce platform for merchants around the world to simplify, scale and create exceptional customer experiences, announced that as part of its long-term succession planning process, the Lightspeed board of directors has appointed current President JP Chauvet to the role of Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. He will lead Lightspeed's continued growth, strategic development and execution. The Company also announced that Founder and outgoing CEO Dax Dasilva will continue to serve Lightspeed as Executive Chair of Lightspeed's board of directors.
Repay Holdings Corporation, a leading provider of vertically-integrated payment solutions, today announced the addition of David Guthrie to the executive team in the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In his role as CTO, Guthrie will focus on bringing the company new capabilities, integrating technologies via mergers and acquisitions, and product development at scale to further strengthen REPAY’s role in providing exceptional payment processing solutions.
Worldline recently presented its new strategic plan, detailing its ambition of being the premium global Paytech company at the heart of the European payment ecosystem. The two key axis of the plan are to accelerate the company’s geographical expansion as well as its investment in technology. In parallel, these past months have accelerated the digitization of commerce and changed forever how people choose to pay, live, and do business. Worldline is at the forefront of this rapid evolution and is committed to support the high demand from its clients and their adoption of new payments trends.
The OLB Group, Inc., a diversified Fintech eCommerce merchant services provider and Bitcoin cryptocurrency mining enterprise, announced today that the Company's merchant services annual transaction volume run rate has reached $1.35 Billion in transaction volume as a result of 28.5 million transactions. After the Company’s acquisition of a portfolio of CBD merchant accounts in the last quarter, OLB has started the current year with the highest revenue run rate in the history of the company.
Paya, a leading integrated payments and commerce solution provider, announced the launch of PayaGov, the company’s solutions and domain experts serving government agencies, municipalities, and service providers. The launch is a key milestone in the strategic alignment of Paya’s market-leading government and municipality franchises, and reinforces Paya’s commitment to, and position in, this key vertical.
Intuit QuickBooks announced two new products that provide small businesses and their employees with faster access to their money in an effort to give them greater cash flow flexibility so they can succeed and prosper. With QuickBooks Get Paid Upfront, eligible QuickBooks Online customers can eliminate the wait to be paid on outstanding invoices and put their earned money to work faster. QuickBooks Early Pay will provide eligible employees paid through QuickBooks Online Payroll with the option of instant1 access to money between paydays.
ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time digital payment software, announced a partnership with global payments service provider (PSP) COMO Global S.A. to support the company’s ambitious expansion plans into new markets. COMO Global will utilize ACI Secure eCommerce to enhance its payments gateway COMO World, offering its merchant customers instant access to hundreds of local and cross-border acquirers, as well as new card, digital and mobile payment methods.
Corcentric, a global provider of business spend management and revenue management software and services, announced it has rebranded Vendorin, its B2B payments solution subsidiary acquired in 2020, as Corcentric Payments. Under one unified brand, the company can monetize transactions through payments, supply chain finance, and group purchasing, as well as move payments to electronic forms, increase overall supplier acceptance, and fully automate organizations' accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) processes.
Chargebee, the leading subscription management platform, announced the closing of a $250 million investment round co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, along with returning investors including Insight Partners, Sapphire and Steadview Capital. This round follows a previous round in April raising $125 million at a $1.4 billion valuation, bringing the total investment in the company to $470 million.
Barclays has teamed up with corporate venture builder Rainmaking to develop a host of initiatives working with fintech firms around the world. Barclays has long sought to engage with the fintech community, most notably through its Rise platform which has been running accelerator programs for several years. Now the bank is stepping up its efforts by bringing in an innovation partner in the shape of Rainmaking, which has built 65 of its own ventures and, through its Startupbootcamp subsidiary, supported over 950 start-ups.
i2c Inc., a leading provider of digital payment and banking technology, released a first-of-its-kind report on crypto-backed cards, one of the world’s fastest-growing card categories. The report examines account and transactional data from more than 4,000 traditional and crypto-backed card programs, across 40 countries and three continents. With more than five million crypto-backed cards running on its global platform, i2c is the world’s premier partner for issuing and processing cryptocurrency cards.
LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, a leading provider of data, analytics and technology for the insurance industry, now offers U.S. insurance carriers superior assistance in linking and connecting disparate customer records through LexID® for Insurance. LexID is the unique identifier built from proprietary linking technology, more than 35 years of referential data and thousands of data sources to match disparate identity information and help insurers create the sought-after single customer view across their enterprise.
Cross River Bank, a technology-driven financial services organization that provides core infrastructure and embedded financial solutions, announced that it will be powering PayTile, a fintech company that offers location-based payments through their app. PayTile is one of the first-ever peer-to-peer (P2P) payment platforms that uses geo-location to facilitate safe and private financial transactions between users without sharing users’ personal information.
Pushpay Holdings Limited is pleased to announce that Jason Rupert will join Pushpay’s executive team as chief growth officer, effective February 14, 2022. As chief growth officer, Rupert will lead the go-to-market functions of the business, including the sales and marketing teams as well as support the development and execution of Pushpay’s growth strategy. “We are excited to welcome Jason to the Pushpay team,” said Pushpay CEO Molly Matthews.
