Financial/Banking

TAMPA, Fla. — Sterling Payment Technologies, a leading national payment processor, has appointed Jeffrey Akeson to executive director of third party/ISO sales.  

Sterling Payment Technologies is a customer-focused payment processor which provides merchants with a complete range of electronic payment services, including credit, debit, PIN debit, fleet, gift card and proprietary rewards and loyalty programs. The company combines POS technology and value-added merchant solutions.

AUSTIN, Texas — Mozido, a cloud-based, white-label integrated platform of mobile payments, commerce and marketing, has appointed former senior CorFire executives Steve Bacastow and Charlie Wiggs to its management team.

Mozido enables companies in retail, financial services, consumer packaged goods and telecom to serve consumers, small businesses and global corporate brands with and without bank accounts. Its platform complemented by real-time customer behavior analytics.

NEW YORK — Despite caution among consumers, retailers wrapped up 2012 with a healthy holiday shopping season, according to a new report by a retailing trade group.

The National Retail Federation said that holiday retail sales increased 3% over the year before, to $579.8 billion. December retail sales increased 0.8% seasonally adjusted from November and 2.1% unadjusted year over year. Nevertheless, the 3% increase was still below the NRF's projected 4.1% growth. Meanwhile, nonstore holiday sales grew 11.1%.

New York -- Total holiday retail sales increased 3% to $579.8 billion, below the National Retail Federation s projected forecast of 4.1%. Non-store holiday sales grew 11%, below the 12% growth forecast by Shop.org. (The NRF sales figures exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants.)

“For over six months, we’ve been saying that the fiscal cliff and economic uncertainty could impact holiday sales. As the number shows, these issues had a visible impact on consumer spending this holiday season,” said Matthew Shay, CEO, NRF.

ATLANTA — First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, has announced that CEO Jon Judge plans to retire from the company for health reasons.

First Data offers e-commerce solutions to merchants, financial institutions and their customers. First Data leverages its product portfolio and expertise to drive customer revenue and profitability, and facilitates payment by debit or credit card, gift card, check or mobile phone, online or at the checkout counter.

Washington, D.C. -- The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to minus 34.4 in the seven days ended Jan. 6 from minus 31.8 the prior period, the biggest one-week drop since August. Jobless claims increased by 4,000 to 371,000 in the week ended Jan. 5, according to Labor Department figures.

Farmington Hills, Mich. -- Agree Realty Corp. said Thursday it acquired a portfolio of four Applebee's restaurants, as well as an Advance Auto Parts in late December 2012 for about $10 million.

These latest acquisitions bring Agree’s 2012 total purchase activity to approximately $81.5 million.

The recently acquired Applebee's assets are located in Harlingen, Texas, and Wichita Falls, Texas, as well as two properties in Pensacola, Fla. The Advance Auto Parts is located on an outlot to a Walmart Supercenter in Lebanon, Va.

Atlanta -- Consumer spending reached a three-year low during the month of December, according to a report released Thursday by First Data Corp.

First Data’s SpendTrend tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.