Recognized Companies Include Square, Shopify, JP Morgan Chase, Worldpay from FIS, and GET
TSG is pleased to recognize a selection of payments companies for their exceptional start-up, small and medium-sized (SMB) eCommerce merchant experience. Continue reading.
Utilizing its Gateway Enterprise Metrics (GEM) platform, TSG completes an anonymous process of opening new merchant accounts to obtain the ability to accept cards online. This assessment, powered by the firm’s Market Intelligence product TruShop, measures and benchmarks the experience from the merchant’s point of view and is compared against the industry’s top providers.
Webinar - The Rise of eCommerce: Are Payment Gateways Ready?
TSG will be hosting a free webinar on November 4, 2020 to explore how the eCommerce merchant experience is assessed and what payments players need to know to succeed. Click below to register.
PayPal on Wednesday announced it would begin supporting cryptocurrencies for the first time, allowing any PayPal account holder to store, buy, and sell popular virtual currencies starting later this year. The announcement makes PayPal arguably the most significant company in the financial tech sector to adopt support for virtual currencies. PayPal competitor Square launched support for bitcoin back in 2018 through its Cash app (Square also purchased $50 million worth of bitcoin earlier this month), but PayPal is going further in supporting bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.
Last conducted in 2016, the latest Third-Party Processing Pricing Benchmark Study from The Strawhecker Group indicates that debit and credit card transaction pricing appears to have leveled off. The average value of an IP-connected front-end authorization and capture action in 2020 is $0.016 for jumbo wholesale acquirers, or those with an aggregate of more than 3 million average monthly transactions, compared with $0.015 in 2016, the last time the study was produced.
What’s behind this? It’s not one single factor. “Pricing strategy is never about a single line item, but all of the elements combined—authorization and settlement fees may be transaction-based but there are fixed, daily, and monthly fees that add to the overall cost of a transaction,” says Peter Michaud, director of consulting at Omaha, Neb.-based Strawhecker. For 2020, the report includes pricing benchmarks for the integrated channel and retail independent sales organizations.
JPMorgan Chase is making a play to sell more services to millions of American small business owners, pushing into an area pioneered by fintech firms including Square, PayPal, and First Data, CNBC has learned. The bank is rolling out a checking account that is paired with a new fintech-inspired service called QuickAccept, according to JPMorgan executives. QuickAccept lets merchants take card payments within minutes, either through a mobile app or a contactless card reader, and users will see sales hit their Chase business accounts on the same day.
Discover Financial Services shares surged after the company said spending on its cards improved in September, the first increase during the pandemic. Sales volume climbed 4% in September and 7% in the first half of October, Discover said in a third-quarter earnings presentation Thursday. Growth in retail sales and grocery purchases have been enough to offset a 49% drop in travel spending so far this month. “A lot of retailers have been conservative — they’re telling their customers it’s a good time to buy early,” with supply shortages looming and possible shopping disruptions from a second wave of coronavirus infections, Discover CEO Roger Hochschild said in a telephone interview. “October is the new December.”
Paya, a leading integrated payments and commerce solution provider, and FinTech Acquisition Corp. III, a special purpose acquisition company, announced that they have completed their previously-announced business combination. The business combination was approved at a special meeting of stockholders of FinTech III on October 15, 2020 and closed earlier today. Upon completion of the business combination, the combined company changed its name to Paya Holdings Inc. ("Paya" or the "Company"). Paya’s common stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol “PAYA” commencing October 19, 2020.
Plenty of businesses have seen the pandemic decimate their prospects as entire industries shut down, or customers pare back. But a lucky few have seen the opposite: a strategy that was already underway before the pandemic now looks brilliant because of it. Such is the case with Fidelity National Information Services (FIS),the Jacksonville-based finch company which is ranked No. 303 on the Fortune 500. For most of its 52-year history, FIS focused on financial products and services. Early last spring, FIS had decided to branch out, acquiring Worldpay, a company that processes some 40 billion transactions a year, for $43 billion.
Ant Group — the crown jewel of billionaire Jack Ma's tech empire — is one step closer to its highly anticipated market debut. China's securities regulator said Wednesday that Ant has received the green light for its Shanghai public offering, and has now cleared all regulatory hurdled for a dual-listing that is expected to rake in billions. Ant, the financial technology company affiliated with Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba, plans to list simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Ant will announce the IPO's share price on October 27, according to updated regulatory filings.
Etsy, the online marketplace for creative gifts, is set to roll out use of the Klarna buy now, pay later (BNPL) shopping payment solution. Klarna’s BNPL service will be available in the U.S. first, according to a press release. Etsy will then roll out “Klarna’s flexible payment options in other core markets in 2021.” The Klarna BNPL setup for Etsy will be enabled by Adyen, a payments platform. The release said Adyen provides “a modern end-to-end infrastructure connecting directly to Visa, Mastercard, and consumers' globally preferred payment methods.”
Silverflow, a Dutch startup founded by Adyen alumni, is breaking cover and announcing seed funding. The pre-launch company has spent the last two years building what it describes as a “cloud-native” online card processor that directly connects to card networks. The aim is to offer a modern replacement for the 20 to 40-year-old payments card processing tech that is mostly in use today. Backing Silverflow’s €2.6 million seed round is U.K.-based VC Crane Venture Partners, with participation from Inkef Capital and unnamed angel investors and industry leaders from Pay.On, First Data, Booking.com and Adyen. It brings the fintech startup’s total funding to date to ~€3 million.
ExxonMobil continues to innovate at the pump, adding contactless payment to its stable of offerings on the forecourt. The oil company is rolling out its new two-in-one contactless payment solution using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and QR codes. The implementation answers consumer demand for increased mobile payment options. According to the company, more than 11,500 Exxon and Mobil stations across the United States will have this new technology at gas station pumps by end of year to enable customers to "point and pay" using their smartphones.
The British Retail Consortium says the fees charged by payment firms have almost doubled in the last two years. They warn that retailers will be forced to pass on the extra costs to consumers, with credit card bills rising by another £40 a year. However, Mastercard questioned the BRC's findings and said shops were paying less than five years ago. The BRC's head of finance policy, Andrew Cregan, told the BBC: "It is vital that the government takes action to tackle excessive card costs," said the BRC's Andrew Cregan.
The Federal Reserve is in no hurry to issue a digital currency, Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday, citing unresolved concerns including the potential for theft and fraud. Central banks around the world are stepping up research on the costs and benefits of central-bank digital currencies, which could supplement existing national currencies. China is ahead of other nations, after rolling out a homegrown digital currency in April across four cities in a pilot program. “We do think it’s more important to get it right than to be the first,” Mr. Powell said at a panel organized by the International Monetary Fund.
Douglas Kantor, counsel to the Secure Payments Partnership, a coalition of retail groups and payment networks, argues that U.S. card payments need more open standards to build in better security. "One of the problems we had with the introduction of EMV in the United States was that it lagged behind the security that was already out there in other places, and that caused problems throughout the U.S. market," Kantor says. "And we don't want to see that type of thing recur. So we're hoping that better security can be built in as we make a number of changes and the technologies continue to evolve."
Researchers have uncovered a new form of malware using remote overlay attacks to strike Brazilian bank account holders. The new malware variant, dubbed Vizom by IBM, is being utilized in an active campaign across Brazil designed to compromise bank accounts via online financial services. On Tuesday, IBM security researchers Chen Nahman, Ofir Ozer, and Limor Kessem said the malware uses interesting tactics to stay hidden and to compromise user devices in real-time -- namely, remote overlay techniques and DLL hijacking.
Claims for unemployment benefits inched lower last week, the Department of Labor said Thursday. Still millions of Americans continue to rely on government aid to make ends meet. Last week, 787,000 workers claimed first-time benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis. That's down from the prior week, which was revised significantly lower. Last week marked the first time jobless claims fell below 800,000 since mid-March. But not everyone is eligible for regular state benefits. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which Congress created as part of the CARES Act in the spring, provides benefits for the self-employed and gig workers.
The U.S. economy continued to recover at a slight to modest pace through early October as consumers bought homes and increased spending, but the picture varied greatly from sector to sector, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday. The Fed’s survey was conducted in its 12 districts from September through Oct. 9. “Districts characterized the outlooks of contacts as generally optimistic or positive, but with a considerable degree of uncertainty,” the Fed said in its anecdotal survey of businesses.
As the world increasingly turns to digital payments amidst COVID-19, a simple mobile app can help millions of sellers worldwide quickly and securely accept contactless payments, while improving the checkout experience for customers. After piloting Visa Tap to Phone over the past year, Visa announced product availability in more than 15 markets with plans to expand to the United States and accelerate global product growth in the rest of the world via more than 35 new partners, including Visa Ready for Tap to Phone partners.
American Express Company reported third-quarter net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.30 per share, compared with net income of $1.8 billion, or $2.08 per share, a year ago. “While our business continues to be significantly affected by the impacts of the pandemic, our third quarter results have increased our confidence that our strategy for managing through the current environment is the right one,” said Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Billtrust, a leader in B2B order-to-cash solutions, and South Mountain Merger Corporation, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, announced they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement. The combined company (the "Company") will continue as a publicly listed entity and have an implied estimated enterprise value of approximately $1.3 billion at closing, based on current assumptions. Upon closing of this transaction, the Company intends to change its name to BTRS Holdings Inc. and is expected to trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market under a new ticker symbol.
A subsidiary of CCV Group based in the Netherlands, CCV Schweiz SA has a portfolio of around 34,000 payment terminals and employs around 90 people at three locations in Switzerland. The business will be integrated with Concardis Schweiz, acquired by Nets Group in 2019, and will operate under the Nets brand. “This acquisition will help us to broaden our presence across the Swiss value chain and, as a one-stop-shop, offer our customers value-added services beyond standard payment handling,” says Robert Hoffmann, CEO of Concardis and Nets Merchant Services.
daVinci Payments (“daVinci”) and North Lane Technologies, formerly Wirecard North America Inc., announced that they are joining forces to establish a high-growth, premier payment company with innovative technology and solutions. The combined entity will operate under the umbrella of Syncapay, Inc. (“Syncapay”), a holding company for payment technology and solutions companies. Syncapay will receive a new majority equity investment from funds advised by Centerbridge Partners, L.P. (“Centerbridge”), a leading private investment management firm with extensive experience in supporting growth opportunities in the financial services sector.
Four fifths (80%) of North American in-store small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that have diversified online or enhanced their card-present payment offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic have seen a positive impact, according to research from Paysafe, a leading specialized payments platform. The data released today suggests the SMB space’s future will be dependent on omnichannel payments and technology. Paysafe’s latest ‘Lost in Transaction’ research, which surveyed in-store retailers as well as dentists, vets, hairdressers, restaurants and other service providers in the U.S. and Canada between September 9th and 18th , 2020, revealed that a large majority of businesses (88%) made at least one change to their checkouts during the pandemic.
FIS announced the latest expansion of its global footprint in the Latin American market by securing domestic card scheme acquiring licenses in Argentina. With the ability to offer local merchants in-country payment processing, Argentine sellers will have access to a broader set of Worldpay from FIS merchant solutions products and services for online commerce. Worldpay processes billions of transactions annually across 146 countries and more than 300 payments types in 126 currencies and will be the largest global acquirer with a domestic processing capability in Argentina.
The ACH Network had exceptionally strong growth in the third quarter of 2020, with a resurgence of commercial volume even as some government assistance payments have largely concluded. Volume on the ACH Network totaled 6.8 billion payments in the third quarter, a 9% increase from the same period in 2019. The value of those payments, $15.9 trillion, reflects a 13.1% increase. With one additional banking day in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the third quarter of 2019, ACH Network volume compared on a per-day basis increased by 7.3%.
Alliance Data Systems Corporation, a leading provider of data-driven marketing, loyalty and payment solutions, announced that its Card Services business, a premier provider of branded private label, co-brand and commercial card programs, has signed an agreement to transition credit card processing services to Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions. “The strategic partnership announced reflects our commitment to invest in competitive technology and provide greater value and service to our brand partners and their customers,” said Ralph Andretta, president and chief executive officer, Alliance Data.
i2c Inc., a leading provider of digital payment and banking technology announced that it has joined Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program as a new enablement partner in the US, Canada and CEMEA region, speeding up the process of integrating with Visa and allowing fintechs to more easily leverage the reach, capabilities, and security that Visa’s global payment network offers. By joining Visa’s Fast Track program as an enablement partner, i2c is now able to help fintechs accelerate time to market, leveraging Visa's breadth of capabilities while providing superior flexibility, scalability and reliability afforded by its platform.
After an extended courtship, PaymentCloud has acquired the majority share of the contactless technology startup Paysley for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will serve to combine the contactless payment functionality of Paysley with the payment processing power of PaymentCloud. Allowing any customer's phone to be the point of sale without an account, Paysley's mission is to bring quick, easy, and advanced payment options to every business owner. The personalized QR code feature allows customers to pay securely on their phone by inputting their card information or via Apple Pay™ and Samsung Pay™ accounts.
Pineapple Payments, a rapidly growing payments technology company based out of Pittsburgh, announced a new Salesforce solution and its partnership with Rithom Consulting, a Salesforce Cloud Alliance Partner specializing in Salesforce administration, development, and consultancy. Rithom is Pineapple’s first Salesforce integration partner, and the companies are working together strategically to offer Pineapple’s new Salesforce solution to organizations in need of integrated payment processing and seamless electronic invoicing.
SpotOn Transact, Inc (“SpotOn”), an innovative software and payments company, announced that it has hired Kevin Bryla as its Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Customer Experience. The company has been adding talent across the organization to meet expanding customer demands, which includes more than 300 new employees across all departments over the last six months. Bryla is a long-time marketing executive having thrived in-and-around SpotOn’s core market. His career is highlighted by his time at HR software giant ADP, a $60+ billion company servicing hundreds of thousands of customers globally.
VizyPay, an award-winning leader in the payment processing industry, announces it has passed the $1B milestone in payments processed since its founding in 2017 and is projected to reach a collective $2B in processing in 2021. The bootstrapped company has installed more than 7,000 merchants across the U.S. and has seen an 8,000 percent increase in revenue since its inception. VizyPay has seen exponential growth in three short years, now employing 35 full-time employees and over 600 independent contractors. In 2020, VizyPay also acquired long-time competitor Echo Daily, fueling the company’s rapid expansion.
Citi announced that it is offering transgender and non-binary people the ability to use their chosen name on eligible credit cards. This launch, in conjunction with Mastercard, provides eligible U.S. Branded credit card customers with the option to use their self-identified chosen first name on credit cards. Effective immediately, eligible existing credit cardmembers will be able to request a new credit card, which displays their chosen name. In the coming weeks, customers will also be able to be serviced by their chosen name via telephone and across online and mobile access points.
First announced in 2019, Coupa and American Express are taking their partnership to the next level as U.S.-based customers can now use American Express virtual Cards as a payment option with Coupa's business-to-business (B2B) payments solution, Coupa Pay. This news builds on the initial availability of American Express virtual Cards in the U.K. and Australia, and simplifies outdated, complex, and inefficient payment processes for businesses around the world.
In 2019, the USDA rolled out its SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot so that online retailers could start accepting SNAP EBT cards from customers. Since then, demand for online grocery ordering has skyrocketed due to COVID-19, and at the same time, U.S. government funding of SNAP benefits has increased in response to widespread financial hardship. Within this changing environment, Cardknox announced that its payment gateway integration for e-commerce platforms now supports SNAP EBT payment processing online.
