Acquirers

Forget the stereotype that a cybercriminal has to be tech-savvy to get the job done. Their true gift is in social engineering.

Merchant acquirers have moved mountains to embrace software and e-commerce over the old model of selling point of sale hardware, but there are signs that transformation is not enough to please investors.

American Express has spent years developing new marketing alliances and acquiring programs to shed its reputation as a card for the elite. But its success still hinges on premium cardholders.

The acquirer OLB Group is positioning itself as a data steward for a future in which merchants will have predictive data to inform decisions on financing.

Though Costco is no longer called out in the New York issuer's earnings calls, the loss of that business added fuel to a change within the company that is showing results.

Paul Galant will leave the CEO post at Verifone in the next few months, following a tenure in which he helped diversify and automate Verifone's merchant acquiring business and led a recovery from a series of strategic and economic missteps.

Payment processors have increasingly become full-service providers from equipment to security measures and, most recently, some mobile and omnichannel options.

Going back to the debut of the free Square card reader, the mobile payments market has made fees — or the lack of fees — a major selling point.

The simplified pricing of fintechs like Square and Stripe has finally caught up with banks' more complex fees, prompting Wells Fargo to restructure its billing for small businesses. Other banks will also face consequences—particularly community banks that depend on local merchants.

Ingenico is negotiating a business combination with BS Payone that would boost its profile in parts of central Europe and allow it to counter multichannel moves by other major payment companies.

Within sports venues, providers want to handle payments and integrate loyalty and other services through every facet of the ballpark and teams operating those facilities.

Since payments are often integrated directly into business tools, it's time for ISOs to take a deeper look at the new landscape and re-evaluate business strategy, according to Angelo Grecco, chief business development officer at CardConnect.

French banking giant Crédit Agricole’s payments unit has signed a deal with Wirecard to develop an integrated payment acceptance and acquiring platform serving large merchants.

They laughed at her. Now she's taking their customers.

Sage Payment Solutions has spent most of the past half-year separating itself from its former parent company, Sage Group, a break that necessitated a new name as it changed its focus to sell a broader range of technology innovation for merchants and businesses.

E-commerce merchants are juggling several challenges at once, creating potential business-threatening gaps Worldpay and Vantiv say can be bridged by their merger.

With merchant services provider Cayan firmly under its umbrella, Total System Services is prepared to venture deeper into retail acquiring and processing through Cayan's omnichannel Genius platform.

Alison Burns feels like a broken record every time she has to give the same spiel to prospective merchant clients: Before you invest tens of thousands of dollars in a new point of sale system, know what you’re getting into first.

In a move designed to strengthen its capabilities for integrated payments, processor and technology provider Total System Services has agreed to acquire Cayan for $1.05 billion. The news shortly follows another deal valued in the billions — Thales agreeing to buy the chip maker Gemalto for $5.4 billion.

Financial services organizations increasingly need an unwavering commitment to customer experience in order to compete, or the competitor down the street will do it first, writes Chris Millner, a principal of financial technology and a payments consultant at North Highland.