Payments Moves & Mergers

Blackhawk Network has acquired CashStar Inc., a provider of digital gift card commerce solutions. With the acquisition, CashStar has become part of Blackhawk’s digital and incentives businesses.

ETA welcomed Elizabeth (Liz) Ryan, executive vice president and wholesale merchant services segment executive at Wells Fargo, to its board of directors. A 30-year veteran of the financial industry, Ryan was appointed in 2016 to lead and transform the newly created wholesale merchant services segment at Wells Fargo, which includes more than 200 team members serving a diverse group of customers that generate more than $320 billion in card volume processed annually.

PayPal Holdings has agreed to acquire online lending company Swift Financial. The acquisition will allow PayPal to offer loans to  larger businesses that process payments through its platform and better provide credit to firms that are not yet users of its services.

Global payment processing company Pivotal Payments announced that Allan Lacoste has joined the company as vice president. Lacoste has more than 20 years of leadership experience and will be responsible for managing the overall growth of Pivotal’s North American sales divisions. He most recently served as ISO director at Total Merchant Services, where he headed up its ISO and sales partner channel.

Visa Inc. has appointed Charlotte Hogg as executive vice president and CEO for its European operations, effective October 1. She will join the Visa Europe Limited board of directors and will also be a member of Visa’s global executive committee. Hogg brings more than 25 years of experience to Visa, most recently serving as chief operating officer for the Bank of England.