In this interview, TSG sat down with Celero Commerce CEO, Kevin Jones, to learn more about his journey as a payments industry veteran and how Celero Commerce is approaching the industry differently.
Excerpt:How has Celero Commerce been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic? What trends have you been noticing as the pandemic has developed since March?
Kevin:Like most payments organizations that focus on small to mid-sized businesses, we saw a meaningful negative volume impact quickly as the shutdowns occurred. Luckily, we are a strong business and were able to focus our efforts on our core mission which has always been to help small to mid-sized businesses thrive. We created an offense and a defense within the organization. Our defense met daily to discuss trends, impacts, and measures to ensure continued strength while our offense focused wholly on our SMB merchants and FI partners offering appropriate product pivots, best-practices, advice, data, and support. We delivered these through thousands of calls, over 50 webinars, weekly CEO messages, and even created a COVID-19 website to make these tools available 24/7.
A blank-check acquisition firm backed by veteran investor Bill Foley said on Monday it had agreed to merge with Paysafe Group Holdings Ltd, valuing the payments platform at around $9 billion, including debt. Paysafe’s merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp II will result in the London-based company listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PSFE”, the companies said. Foley said in an interview that Paysafe had been at the top of his target list of mergers because it had different businesses that could be scaled. “It’s in a great position and we plan to take advantage of that,” he said.
The Cash App has been a major bright spot for Square in 2020 as its Seller business faces various challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. While gross profit growth on the Seller side of the business slowed to single digits through the first three quarters of 2020, Cash App gross profit has nearly tripled. In the third quarter, Cash App gross profit continued accelerating, improving 212% year over year. While management expects that growth to moderate in the fourth quarter and into 2020, CFO Amrita Ahuja still admits the company could've done more to capitalize on the success of Cash App.
TSG is proud to announce the results of its inaugural Restaurant Smart Terminal Provider of the Year Award! Through an in-depth review and submission process, point-of-sale (POS) providers were asked to highlight their product offering to restaurants of all shapes and sizes.
“This award highlights POS technology providers that supply restaurateurs with the critical survival tools they need to continue to operate their business now, and in the future,” said Mike Strawhecker, President of TSG. “We are excited to honor Clover and talech in TSG’s first ever Restaurant Smart Terminal Provider of the Year award.”
Payment card processing giant TSYS suffered a ransomware attack earlier this month. Since then reams of data stolen from the company have been posted online, with the attackers promising to publish more in the coming days. But the company says the malware did not jeopardize card data, and that the incident was limited to administrative areas of its business. On December 8, the cybercriminal gang responsible for deploying the Conti ransomware strain (also known as “Ryuk“) published more than 10 gigabytes of data that it claimed to have removed from TSYS’s networks.
As cofounder and CEO of online payroll software startup PayCycle, Lacerte knew his job was on the line. The company had tens of thousands of users and $13 million in annualized revenue, but growth had stalled. “I went into that meeting saying, ‘Give me one more chance,’” recalls Lacerte. Instead, the board asked him to step down. Five years later, PayCycle was sold to Intuit for $170 million. In the meantime, Lacerte, now 53, started building his next company, Bill.com, which enables small businesses to pay their bills and keep their books in the cloud. While its name and function may be mundane, Bill.com Holdings, Inc. has performed in spectacular fashion since going public last December at $22 a share.
Capital One Financial Corp (CapOne) has barred customers using its credit cards to clear buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) debt as the transactions bear unacceptable risk, it told Reuters, making it the first to distance itself from the finance alternative. The third-largest U.S. card firm with 62 million accounts, plus more in Canada and Britain, said it would no longer allow “transactions identified as point of sale loans charged on its credit cards, regardless of the point of sale lender”. “These kinds of transactions can be risky for customers and the banks that serve them,” a spokeswoman said in an email.
Digital banking start-up Revolut on Friday launched tools for its business clients to accept payments online, looking to compete with payment giants such as Stripe and Adyen. Revolut said its new acquiring solution would allow firms to install plug-in checkout software or build their own custom features to take card payments over the internet. Businesses can also share links with customers through its platform to receive payments, Revolut said. The service is currently only available in Europe. Revolut, founded in London five years ago, is mostly known for its money management app and payment card. But the company has been pushing deeper into business banking over the last few years.
The digital payments firm said it plans to ramp up expansion efforts in Southeast Asia (SEA), China, India, and Japan, per Reuters. Stripe has boosted its staff in Asia-Pacific by 40% so far this year, up to 200 employees, and it's continuing on its hiring spree as it looks to bring in engineers. The firm already had a presence in the region—it set up regional headquarters in Singapore in 2016 and launched an interbank transfers pilot program in Indonesia in early 2020—but is now looking to complete a full-scale entry. Stripe's Asia-Pacific business lead Noah Pepper said that the firm is working to adapt its business to each country's laws and regional payment preferences.
PayPal has introduced QR code payments in iZettle’s point-of-sale app to advance secure, contactless transactions in the U.K. amid COVID-19 restrictions. “Small businesses need access to commerce tools that help them sell securely and meet their customers wherever they are — in-store, online and in-between,” Jacob de Geer, vice president of small business products and iZettle at PayPal, said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec. 9). He added that combining its POS product with contactless payments capabilities “can help small businesses offer an innovative in-store payment experience while navigating this new normal.”
One of the biggest stories of this pandemic year is the rise of food retail e-commerce, and now Kroger is providing another example of that trend. For the first time, Kroger has broken into the top 10 U.S. e-commerce retailers list as determined by eMarketer, holding the No. 9 spot, inching just past Costco Wholesale. According to the eMarketer estimate, Kroger 2020 e-commerce sales are set to hit $11.28 billion — ahead of Costco ($11.18 billion) and behind Target ($13.82 billion, at the No. 7 spot), Walmart ($46.20 billion, No. 2) and Amazon ($309.58 billion, No. 1). Wayfair (8), Best Buy (6), The Home Depot (5), Apple (4) and eBay (3) also made this most recent eMarketer list.
NYC FinTech Women, an organization created to connect, empower and promote women to advance their careers in financial technology (FinTech), continues to celebrate and recognize women who are driving innovation, leading through difficult times and inspiring the community. In its second year, the Inspiring FinTech Females award recognizes 50 leaders who epitomize the organization's mission to strengthen the ecosystem across five categories: Founders, Leaders, Money Movers, Network Builders and Product Builders.
The rise of cryptocurrencies in mainstream finance is coming at the expense of gold, says JPMorgan Chase & Co. Money has poured into Bitcoin funds and out of gold since October, a trend that’s only going to continue in the long run as more institutional investors take a position in cryptocurrencies, according to the bank’s quantitative strategists including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou. JPMorgan is one of the few Wall Street banks that’s predicting a major shift in gold and crypto markets as digital currencies become increasingly popular as an asset class.
May require account to read. Mastercard Inc. faces the prospect of a 14 billion-pound ($18.6 billion) U.K. class action -- the largest of its kind -- after losing another battle at the country’s highest court over illegal swipe fees. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group behind a proposed British suit, representing some 46 million consumers. Friday’s decision also sets the stage for a slew of class-action cases, after the judges made it easier to bring mass claims. Mastercard has faced numerous legal challenges since European Union courts said its payment fees unfairly restricted competition.
China’s top banking regulator on Tuesday questioned the power of the country’s large financial technology companies and hinted at “timely and targeted measures to prevent new systemic risks.” The move appears to be a nod toward more regulations in China’s burgeoning fintech sector. Over the past few months, Chinese regulators have been growing increasingly concerned about the size of its technology giants and have proposed draft rules to regulate areas including data use and antitrust.
McAfee released a new global report titled “The Hidden Costs of Cybercrime,” which focuses on the significant financial and unseen impacts that cybercrime has worldwide. The report, conducted in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), concludes that cybercrime costs the world economy more than $1 trillion, or just more than one percent of global GDP, which is up more than 50 percent from a 2018 study that put global losses at close to $600 billion. Beyond the global figure, the report also explored the damage reported beyond financial losses, finding 92 percent of companies felt effects beyond monetary losses.
A JavaScript card skimmer group dubbed "FakeSecurity" recently deployed the Raccoon information stealer malware in order to target e-commerce sites to steal payment card details from victims, according to security firm Group-IB. The e-commerce websites were targeted by the fraudsters between February and September in four separate campaigns, which delivered the Raccoon infostealer using several tactics, the report notes. The attacks, however, mainly relied on phishing emails with malicious documents to spread the malware.
Consumers are spending more via Bank of America accounts this year, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, than they did in 2019, according to CEO Brian Moynihan. “When you look at what they’re spending year-to-date, they’ve spent more in 2020 than they did in 2019, and that is now across $2.7 trillion in money moved by our consumers,” Moynihan told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost in a Wednesday interview. Moynihan’s commentary is the latest indication that, despite a record level of infections and a mounting death toll, many Americans are showing a surprising financial resilience.
Klarna, the leading global payments provider and shopping service, today released data that indicates shoppers in the US - particularly Millennials - shifted their share of e-commerce spending towards intangible items such travel and event tickets during Cyber Week (November 30–December 6). Klarna also identified spending trends among US Gen Zers, Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers during Cyber week, pointing to a rise in purchases in the leisure, sport & hobby and marketplace categories leading into the holidays. "Online shoppers are especially cognizant of holidays shipping deadlines, which are approaching fast and will impact whether delivery by Christmas Day is possible this year," said David Sykes, Head of US at Klarna.
E-commerce became a lifeline for consumers and companies during the pandemic. But this holiday season, online shopping will strain the industry as never before: An estimated three billion packages will course through the nation’s shipping infrastructure — about 800 million more than delivered last year. This flood of packages is hitting shipping companies at the end of a year of frenzied demand for everyday household items by a public largely stuck at home and wary of doing its buying in person.
Thursday’s report ended a seven-week streak during which new jobless claims held below 800,000. New weekly claims are now about four times greater than they were before the pandemic, when they were averaging about 200,000 per week. Still, they are down from a pandemic-era high of nearly 6.9 million in late March. Jobless claims rose more than anticipated after a brief dip during the previous week. Many economists chalked up the end of November’s greater-than-anticipated improvement in new weekly jobless claims to a technical quirk with adjusting for the Thanksgiving holiday, rather than the start of a sustained trend lower in new claims.
According to the Amex Trendex, a trend report from American Express, consumers surveyed in the U.S. are prioritizing safety this holiday season -- from the types of gifts they hope to receive to the way they plan to celebrate. After an unpredictable year, consumers surveyed are putting practical items that they typically buy for others at the top of their own wish lists. In fact, 58% said they want to receive a gift card, followed by clothing (34%) and new tech or tech accessories (28%). They’re also starting to plan ahead for 2021. Sixty-two percent of consumers plan to focus on their finances more in 2021 than in previous years.
In the midst of a boom in online commerce, one of the biggest e-commerce transaction processors globally has agreed to support both a Visa Inc. service that masks users’ card credentials and a streamlined online checkout technology offered by all four major card networks. FIS Inc. said Thursday its Worldpay processing unit will switch on Click to Pay, a so-called common buy button that allows users of Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express cards to check out without entering details such as card and shipping data. FIS acquired Worldpay last year in a deal valued at $43 billion.
Adyen, the global payments platform of choice for many of the world's leading companies, expands its collaboration with Microsoft to accelerate payments innovation for both companies with the launch of Adyen Network Token Optimization. Adyen is one of the first payment platforms to enable tokenized payments across multiple schemes and to offer automated optimization of the use of tokens to increase authorization rates. By adopting Network Token Optimization, merchants like Microsoft are able to realize significantly more revenue due to increased authorization rates.
Square announced the availability of Square Appointments on Square Register, a point-of-sale solution specifically built for beauty and wellness sellers that now runs on Square’s first-class hardware. This offering provides integrated hardware and software so sellers can book and confirm appointments, manage inventory, accept payments, and check out customers all from Square Appointments for a front desk experience that provides simplicity and a professional look that elevates any business.
Verizon Business and Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, announced a new relationship that allows Verizon Business to provide customers access to Clover Flex, a mobile point-of-sale device that can enable touchless payments. In addition, the relationship will allow Verizon customers to utilize Fiserv merchant services, including debit and credit card processing with a range of payment acceptance options, including online, mobile and in-person. In making the announcement TJ Fox, President of Business Markets for Verizon Business stated, “Businesses are investing in technologies to advance and grow their businesses, address customer needs and adapt to today's environment.
Forter, the leader in e-commerce fraud prevention, announced that Nuvei, the global payment technology partner of thriving brands, will be joining its global network of merchants and banks to fight online fraud and approve more legitimate customers instantaneously. The increased volume and lack of data on new online shoppers makes it difficult for retailers to accurately identify legitimate buyers from fraudsters, leading to false declines, a poor customer experience and ultimately, lost revenue.
daVinci Payments (daVinci) and North Lane Technologies (North Lane), announced they have completed their merger, formally creating a high-growth, premier payment company with innovative technology and solutions. The combined businesses now operate under the brand umbrella of Syncapay, through a holding company formed together with 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.
Judopay, a leading mobile-centric payments provider, announces the launch of JudoAccept, a new integrated payments offering that will help small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cope with the fallout and ongoing impact of COVID-19. With even industry giants struggling to recover, SMEs in all sectors have been hardest hit by this year’s challenges. Part of this struggle has been the ability to provide consumers with the goods and services they want to buy in a socially distanced and secure manner. Meeting new ‘covid-safe’ expectations during the retail and checkout experience means that payments now have to be touchless in order for customers to keep their distance.
Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry has partnered with PayMyTuition in its mission to simplify tuition payments for international students and the universities they attend. Worldline provides its services through Ingenico which is part of Worldline since October of 2020 and offers merchants smart, trusted and secure solutions to empower commerce. PayMyTuition, a leading provider of technology-driven global payment processing solutions for tuition payments, integrates directly into universities’ student information and accounts payable (AP) systems.
Bluefin, the leader in encryption and tokenization payment and data security, and 1-800 Notify, the premier platform for HIPAA-compliant, automated phone payments (IVR), appointment reminders, billing reminders and notifications, have partnered to provide 1-800 Notify's services through Bluefin's PayConex™ gateway and Epic integration to leading healthcare organizations. "Manually accepting a patient payment over the phone ties up already busy staff members, reducing their time to spend on more important and complicated patient requests," said Martin Trautschold, Chief Executive Officer of 1-800 Notify.
dLocal, the leading cross-border payment platform connecting global merchants to emerging markets, announced the addition of two new members to its executive team. Hernán Di Chello will serve as Chief Technology Officer and Diego Cabrera Canay joins as Chief Financial Officer. “Hernán and Diego have a proven track record of effective leadership, with more than three decades of combined experience in the global e-commerce and payments markets at Mercado Libre,” said Sebastián Kanovich, CEO of dLocal.
FinTech Paynetics AD announced a partnership with UnionPay International in a bid to enable the former to issue cards within the European Economic Area (EEA). The partnership will help Paynetics to extend its reach across Europe for both B2B and B2B2C customers. Rob Anderson, Managing Director, Paynetics Global commented, “We’re really proud to announce our partnership with UnionPay International as we have now become one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching card issuers in the EEA and have the backing of another of the top card schemes in the world.
Online money transfer firm TransferWise plans to add 750 jobs over the next six months, equivalent to more than a third of its current workforce. The news follows a successful period for the UK-based firm which announced a 70% growth in revenue over the last financial year to £302.6 million. The 10-year old company also doubled its profits from £10.1 to £20.4m in the 12 months up to March 31 and also saw its customer base exceed nine million earlier this year. The biggest intake of employees will be in the UK with 175 new positions to be added.
Flywire, a high-growth software and payments company, today announced record growth for its healthcare business. Ongoing enhancements to its digital engagement and payments platform, including new capabilities that make it easier for providers to personalize the patient payment experience, led to a record number of new client wins and strategic partnerships. To date, more than 50 leading U.S. health systems and hospitals use Flywire to make paying for healthcare digital, simple and affordable for their patients.
