Payment processing

Any way you slice it, 2015 was the year of fintech. From Bitcoin to marketplace lending and everything in between, fintech was a venture capital honey trap and a cocktail party buzzword.

The pressure on merchant acquirers to enable transactions in more channels for more merchant types is accelerating, and TSYS is turning to the M&A market to accelerate its digital diversification, announcing an agreement with Vista Equity Partners to acquire Vista portfolio company TransFirst for $2.35 billion in cash.

Vending machines were among the first categories to accept contactless mobile payments, but they still rely heavily on cash for impulse snack purchases — at least for now.

Reeling from the loss of the Costco account and other setbacks in 2015, American Express is looking to the future the same way any investor might — banking on the diversification of its portfolio to slowly climb back.

The newest audience flocking to omnichannel shopping is the one no one invited—fraudsters.

Global Payments Inc. has finalized an agreement to distribute Mobeewave’s contactless mobile card acceptance technology to its Canadian clients beginning this spring.

Starbucks has integrated its mobile pre-ordering and payment feature into its Android app in the U.K.

For years, the financial services industry has relied on tactics such as education campaigns, sales pitches and financial penalties to get merchants to upgrade their technology. Ironically, the bad security that led to Target's 2013 data breach may have been the strongest way to deliver this message.

It may seem odd for a vendor of payment acceptance hardware to discredit EMV security, which is commonly seen as a catalyst for hardware sales, but that's exactly what MagTek is doing.

Already facing technology-driven threats to their relevancy, independent sales organizations (ISOs) face another dilemma: should ISOs spread their wings with numerous acquirers and processors, or stick with one that provides the best deal for servicing merchant clients?