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US-based payment processor Vantiv has announced that it has agreed to acquire Moneris USA, the US subsidiary of Toronto-based payment processor Moneris Solutions Corp., for $425 million.

Moneris USA provides high-quality merchant service solutions, including credit, debit, wireless, and digital payment services for merchants in nearly all industry segments. Vantiv will serve Moneris USA's merchant partners with “deep payments expertise” on its way to growing the company.  

Vantiv is poised to expand its portfolio and bolster sales with this acquisition.

• The acquisition significantly adds to Vantiv's US portfolio. Vantiv will take over serving Moneris USA’s 350,000 merchant locations, which process over 3 billion card transactions per year. Vantiv is already considered the nation's second-largest payment processor, with over 800,000 merchant locations. This deal will likely strengthen the firm's positioning in the US and help it increase its market share. 
• The needs of Moneris USA's merchant clients could set Vantiv up for sustained growth. Vantiv has historically listed its omnichannel capabilities as a driver of growth for this company, and has recently been investing in a number of features to better serve merchants and those that provide services to them in this area. It's likely that Moneris USA merchants will be attracted to Vantiv's omnichannel offerings because they're already selling online. That's especially true in light of omnichannel growth across the board — 89% of merchants have a website and 65% have a mobile store, compared with 76% and 25% five years ago, respectively. Acquiring new business that's likely to be interested in a key growth driver could be a recipe for success for Vantiv as it continues to scale. 

Vantiv's acquisition of Moneris USA could shift part of the payments ecosystem, which now includes acquirers, processors, merchants, networks, and more.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, senior research analysts at BI Intelligence, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.

Join the conversation about this story »

[…]

The post Bitcoin Thrives as China, India, Zimbabwe Plunge into Monetary Chaos appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Bitcoin wallet company Blockchain is beta testing a new in-wallet purchase option in partnership with payments startup Coinify.

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This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

In September, a federal appeals court ruled that Amex merchants will no longer be able to discourage consumers from paying with Amex or incentivize them to use a different card, like Visa or Mastercard, with lower fees.

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested that the appeals court reconsider that notion, paying more careful attention to the impact that the policy has on merchants alone, according to Reuters.

The appeals court’s ruling reinstated what Amex calls an “anti-steering” policy, which means that merchants can’t try to avoid Amex’s higher fees by pushing customers to pay with another card product through discounts. Amex justifies these high fees because its affluent customer base tends to make higher-value and more frequent purchases, which could help mitigate the additional cost the firm’s fees pose relative to other card networks. The DOJ is pushing for reconsideration because merchant price competition isn’t “for Amex to decide,” but it’s unlikely a new hearing will occur.   

Keeping the policy in place is important for Amex, which likely relies on its high fees to remain competitive in the current state of the industry.

• Amex’s interchange income likely helps fund rewards. Amex has stated that the money it makes from those higher fees helps it offer robust rewards and strong perks to its cardholders — a program that’s attractive to customers and likely serves as a key acquisition channel for the firm.
• And rewards are at the forefront of the competitive card industry right now.Increased interest in credit has led to intense competition between networks to acquire customers new to the ecosystem. Rewards are one such tool — all four major card networks noted that investing in robust perks without overspending is and will remain a key issue and priority. It’s likely that Amex will place an exceptionally high value on these rewards programs, particularly in light of the firm’s losses related to the Costco sale and its focus on new customer acquisition. It'll therefore try to fight to keep its fee structure and anti-steering policies in place.

Regardless of how this situation plays out, American Express is just one piece of the broader payments ecosytem, which now includes processors, issuers, merchants, acquirers, networks, and more.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, senior research analysts at BI Intelligence, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.

Join the conversation about this story »

The DDoS attacks we've been seeing lately rely on masses of devices, sometimes numbering in the millions, to overwhelm a network. There's one such attack that can cripple networks with far greater efficiency. All that's required is a single computer.

The CME Group officially launched its bitcoin price indexes yesterday.

Source

[…]

The post Prosecutors Charge Florida Man In Bitcoin Exchange Case Linked To JPMorgan Hacking Probe appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

[…]

The post Bitcoin’s Calm before a Storm? appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

As bitcoin core developer Peter Todd published his role in helping create the Zcash cryptocurrency doubt is cast on the system's "trustless setup."

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[…]

The post Bitcoin Is Too Transparent, Says Blockchain Surveillance Firm Executive appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

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The post Bitcoin Current- the Latest Bitcoin Exchange Comparison Website, That Aims to Simplify Bitcoin Trading for the Consumer appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The world's biggest bitcoin wallet provider will "pretty easily" have its biggest ever month for activity in November, following a surge in use after Donald Trump's shock election victory in the US.

Peter Smith, the cofounder and CEO of London-based Blockchain, told Business Insider: "We're setting a new record pretty much every day since the election in terms of activity on the platform.

"People are basically hedging against economic instability. It's a worrying time to be holding a lot of British pound or if you're America — people flee to safe haven assets. Bitcoin is one of those. Bloomberg added to its list of safe havens last week actually."

The price of digital cryptocurrency bitcoin spiking last week after it became clear that Donald Trump had beaten Hillary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States, a huge upset.

Blockchain employs around 25 people in London but also has offices in Luxembourg and New York. The company is the world's biggest provider of digital wallets for bitcoin, with over 50% market share, and processes over 150,000 transactions a day on average. It has raised over $30 million (£23.9 million) to date.

Smith declined to give specific numbers on activity, but says: "It'll be the first month where millions and millions of people use us," adding that the day the election result was announced "was the biggest single day increase we've seen in the last year."

Smith was talking to BI for the launch of a new feature on Blockchain's platform that allows customers to buy and sell bitcoins from within its wallets.

He says: "One of the things that's been different about our product for a long time is you're not depositing your bitcoin with us, you're just getting the infrastructure that lets you manage your own private key. The trade off their historically has been if you have a wallet like that you can't buy and sell the bitcoin from that wallet.

"What's more exciting from an industry perspective is at the moment if you buy bitcoin, it's kind of like a 2 to 3 day experience. You buy them and 2-5 days later you actually get them. It's a little weird. What's really exciting about this product if you get the bitcoin instantly, you pay for them and about 5-6 later you get them."

Blockchain has been working on the feature for around 8 months, Smith says, and has partnered with Danish bitcoin payment and service provider Coinify to launch the new capabilities.

The new feature launches in the UK on Monday and will be across the UK and eurozone by the end of the month. Smith hopes to have the feature launched across the US and parts of Latin America by the end of the first quarter of 2017.

Smith says he was not tempted to launch the new feature in the US instead of the UK, given the surge in activity there. He says: "We want to go UK first because it's our home market. It's easiest to manage. The other thing is this isn't going to be over in a week. This is going to drag on for a while."

Smith says he expects the new feature to lead to a "big uptick" in activity on the platform. Coinify Co-Founder and CEO Mark Højgaard says in a press release announcing the new features: "With Blockchain’s dominant position in the cryptocurrency wallet market, I believe this will be a real game changer.”

Join the conversation about this story »

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