Other Breaking News
In today’s CardFlash News Que: ARK (Bitcoin); IPC (Infinea X); NEXONIA (ratings); and HOUSECALL (funding).
Deutsche & CUP
China UnionPay (CUP) inked a deal with Deutsche Bank and its ATM service provider EVO to enable UnionPay card acceptance by all the ATMs under Deutsche Bank in Germany.
Online’s Day Off
American Express’ U.S. Small Merchant Group has partnered with Birchbox, Bonobos and Rent the Runway to present Online’s Day Off, a two-day event that kicks off with a thought-leadership panel on September 18, followed by a one-day shopping event on September 20.
ShopKeep Enhances POS Software with Custom Email Receipts
ShopKeep announced Custom Email Receipts , a significant enhancement to its point-of-sale solution that hits the market just one week after a range of other upgrades targeted at bars and restaurants. Customized Email Receipts’ key capabilities include better branding, social media, allows users to collect feedback and use big data to boost profitability, special offers and an entirely ‘owned’ database: Enjoy complete ownership and access to your mailing list at all times.Unlike other point-of-sale providers, all customer information, including email addresses, collected through the ShopKeep POS belongs to the business owner. Other vendors claim that data as their own and sell it.
First Data Names New Vice Chairman
First Data announced its Board of Directors has named Joseph J. Plumeri vice chairman. Plumeri was appointed to the First Data Board of Directors and as a senior advisor to KKR in August 2013. Since then he also has been serving as senior advisor to First Data Chairman and CEO Frank Bisignano, and as the head of First Data’s client delivery, innovation and marketing organization. He will continue in these roles.Since joining First Data, Plumeri has played a pivotal role in the company’s transformation from a transaction processor to a payments technology company and solutions provider to merchants and financial institutions. Plumeri has spearheaded company-wide efforts to become more client-centric, including realigning how the company delivers solutions to and serves its global and strategic accounts, national merchants and enterprise clients, financial institutions, small business clients, bank partners and agents and ISO clients. Plumeri was chairman and chief executive officer of Willis Group Holdings, plc before joining First Data. Appointed in 2000,
Ciphrex Lauches Bitcoin Wallet
Ciphrex has launched Bitcoin Vault™ – a leading-edge, secure software wallet for Bitcoin transactions and account management. The beta release is offered for free and can be downloaded from Ciphrex website at ciphrex.com. Bitcoin Vault™ is the first bitcoin wallet supporting shared multisignature account management using deterministic keychains. That’s welcome news for the Bitcoin community. Last December, at the Bitcoin convention in Las Vegas, attention was drawn to the fact that no one had yet offered any practical multisignature tools.
SRS Announces New Parent Company Name and New Services
SRS|Shareholder Representative Services announced the company will operate two affiliated lines of business ” SRS and Acquiom ” under a single parent company: SRS|Acquiom (srsacquiom.com). One line of business, SRS, manages all post closing activity in private M&A transactions to maximize deal value and safeguard the interests of selling shareholders. The global leader in shareholder representation, SRS reached a new milestone in 2013: engagement on a total of 575 deals comprising $86 billion in aggregate deal value since the company’s founding in 2007. SRS represents 58,000 shareholders including 500 of the top venture capital and private equity funds.
First Data Announces Latest to Board of Directors
Joseph J. Plumeri is joining the Board of Directors of First Data, a KKR portfolio company. Having served 12 years as Willis Group chairman and CEO and as its non-executive chairman through July 2013, Plumeri strengthened Willis’ position as one of the world’s leading insurance brokers through industry-sector-leading organic growth and operating margins, strategic expansion, and a return to public ownership in 2001. Prior to joining Willis, Plumeri had a 32-year career at Citigroup and its predecessor companies. As CEO of Citibank North America, he led the integration of the consumer businesses at Citicorp and Travelers Group. He also served as chairman and CEO of Travelers Primerica Financial Services, vice chairman of the Travelers Group, and president and managing partner of Shearson Lehman Brothers.
Chase Appoints New CEO for Card Services
Eileen Serra has been appointed CEO, Chase Card Services. Most recently Head of Card Consumer-branded Products, Serra will oversee card customer segments for Affluent, Mass Affluent, Small Business Card, Partner Card Products, Commercial Card and business in Canada. She will also be a member of the Chase Consumer & Community Banking management team. Serra is responsible for the Mass Affluent and Affluent/High Net Worth customer segments. Previously, she served as President of the Affluent/High Net Worth business and led the brand advertising and media as well as the Chase-branded Ultimate RewardsSM program.
Merchant Warehouse Enhances Payment Processing Solutions
Merchant Warehouse payment solutions enhanced its payments platform, providing enhanced payment processing solutions for POS developers and value added resellers (VARs) for petroleum merchants. Merchant Warehouse’s solutions have been available to partners for petroleum merchants for several years, but with recent significant platform enhancements, partners will recognize several key benefits including a simplified integration and expedited account boarding.
Merchant Warehouse Partners Casio, Launches Integrated Payment
Merchant Warehouse payment processing solutions partnered Casio and PAX Technology EFT-POS payment terminal manufacturer to offer a fully-integrated payment solution. This will feature streamlined and convenient payment processing services at the lowest cost in the industry. This will allow merchants to achieve a seamless integration of payment technology with secure payment processing services through Merchant Warehouse; POS system/cash register services through Casio; and credit card terminal with IP access and phone backup through PAX.
Merchant Warehouse Co-CEO Presented Electronic Transactions Association Award
Merchant Warehouse Co-CEO Henry Helgeson has been presented the “Member of the Year” award at the 2012 Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) Annual Meeting & Expo. Selected for this prestigious award by standing out in the ETA community as a member who is contributing to the future success of the industry and the ETA organization, Helgeson has assembled a vision regarding the future of electronic transactions and served as a valuable intellectual resource for the larger ETA community.