28 June

Change Is Coming for Agents as Merchants’ Payment Products Evolve

Sales agents as a way to sell payment-processing services to merchants aren’t going away, but they aren’t staying the same. That’s according to a new research report from Double Diamond Group LLC, a Centennial, Colo.-based payments-advisory firm.

“This is a period of significant change in acquiring, ” says Rick Oglesby, senior analyst at Double Diamond. Tablet and smart phone-based point-of-sale products are usurping some of the demand for traditional payment terminals as profit margins on processing rates continue to erode. Many of these new products can offer business-management features, such as inventory control and sales reporting, that traditional POS terminals are not capable of.

Details
28 June

Canada’s Optimal Payments Buys Two ISOs To Gain U.S Foothold in E-Commerce Payments

With an eye on expanding its international payments capabilities, Optimal Payments Plc bought two U.S. independent sales organizations that cater to e-commerce merchants, the Montreal-based company announced Tuesday.

Optimal is paying $210 million for Santa Ana, Calif.-based Meritus Payment Solutions and up to $15 million for Los Angeles-based Global Merchant Advisors Inc. Both cater to e-commerce retailers. The acquisitions add more than 8, 000 merchants to the Optimal portfolio, bringing the number of merchants it works with to approximately 20, 000, Doug Lewin, Optimal executive vice president, tells Digital Transactions News.

Details