Financial/Banking

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. has a new finance chief to help the company strengthen its balance sheet.

The retailer has named Nancy A. Walsh to the position of executive VP, CFO of the company, effective Nov. 9. Walsh will have responsibility for Accounting, Treasury, Tax, Credit, Investor Relations, Legal and Internal Audit.

Mega deals worth more than $1 billion drove the U.S. retail and consumer sector’s strong third quarter, according to PwC’s U.S. quarterly R&C Deals Insights report.

During the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 36 deals valued over $50 million were announced for the sector, with deal value up 64% in Q3, accounting for $46.6 billion, compared to $28.4 billion in Q2. Deal volume went up 6% from Q2, but down 36% from Q3 2014.

Mega deals worth more than $1 billion drove the U.S. retail and consumer sector’s strong third quarter, according to PwC’s U.S. quarterly R&C Deals Insights report.

During the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 36 deals valued over $50 million were announced for the sector, with deal value up 64% in the third quarter, accounting for $46.6 billion, compared to $28.4 billion in the second quarter. Deal volume went up 6% from the second quarter, but down 36% from third quarter 2014.

A private equity group better known for investing in established companies is creating a new dollar store brand after acquiring 330 Family Dollar stores from Dollar Tree.

Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar earlier this year and to satisfy federal regulators, the company agreed to divest 330 Family Dollar stores. The acquiring company is a newly created portfolio company of the private equity firm Sycamore Partners called Dollar Express.

It’s not your imagination – a lot of new players are entering the mobile payment market.

Texture Plus, the largest U.S. manufacturer of high-impact textured faux wall panels, urged the United States Senate and House of Representatives to quickly pass the “Restaurant and Retail Jobs and Growth Act.”

“Retailers and restaurants depend on remodeling their locations every five years to stay competitive,” said Brian Kampe, CEO. “The standard 39 year depreciation for building remodeling makes those improvements a difficult tax burden.”

Every retailer hates online chargebacks, and unusually active chargeback activity is often an indicator of e-commerce fraud.

Risk management firm Chargebacks 911 has identified the U.S. cities in the Northeast where the highest percentage of e-commerce transactions result in a chargeback. Visa and Mastercard have set 1% as acceptable chargeback threshold, and these ZIP codes far exceed that figure.

• 17% chargeback rate: Port Washington, New York (11050)
• 15% chargeback rate: Astoria, New York (11105)

The Samsung Pay mobile payment solution had a good first four weeks in the U.S.

According to data released by Samsung Electronics, U.S. consumers who have paid with Samsung Pay so far have executed an average of eight transactions each.