uniCenta adds integrated EMV and contactless payments for U.S. merchants

uniCenta has expanded its U.S. payment integration with MediaPayments and Woodforest Acceptance Solutions, giving merchants in retail and hospitality access to embedded EMV, contactless and mobile wallet acceptance inside the POS. The uniCenta 5.5 release aims to streamline checkout, reduce PCI burden and unify payment processing and settlement.

Why it matters: - The new integration lets U.S. merchants accept chip cards and contactless payments inside the uniCenta POS instead of stitching together separate systems. - Retail and hospitality businesses can offer Apple Pay and Google Pay support at checkout through supported PAX payment terminals. - The setup is designed to reduce manual card entry, lower exposure to sensitive card data and simplify PCI DSS compliance tasks. - The integration also bundles payment processing and settlement into a single workflow, which can cut operational friction for merchants.

What happened: - uniCenta announced an expanded U.S. payment integration with MediaPayments and Woodforest Acceptance Solutions on September 1, 2026. - The integration is included in the uniCenta 5.5 release. - The rollout targets uniCenta merchants across the United States. - Hugh Stevenson, CEO of uniCenta, said the partnership marks a milestone for U.S. merchant customers. - Todd Linden, CEO of Woodforest Acceptance Solutions, said the partnership is built around integrated, intelligent payments and a seamless connection between POS and payment experience.

The details: - The integrated offering supports EMV chip cards and contactless payments through supported PAX terminals. - The payment flow connects the point of interaction, processing and settlement through the collaboration between uniCenta, MediaPayments and Woodforest Acceptance Solutions. - The solution uses secure payment infrastructure intended to modernize checkout while reducing the complexity of managing separate POS and payment environments. - The integration includes tokenization and advanced fraud-management capabilities to help protect merchant and customer payment information. - Woodforest Acceptance Solutions says the onboarding process used its playbook and direct switch-to-issuer connectivity via the WAS VPC platform. - The process is described as a seamless, expedited path from kickoff to live production. - The integration is aimed at merchants in retail and hospitality using uniCenta in the U.S.

Between the lines: - The announcement shows how POS software providers are trying to make payments a built-in feature instead of a separate add-on. - That approach can matter for ISV partners because fewer handoffs can mean faster deployment and less technical overhead. - The emphasis on security, reliability and compliance suggests the partners are positioning the product for merchants that want modern payment options without adding complexity.

What's next: - uniCenta merchants in the U.S. can begin using the integrated payment capabilities through the 5.5 release. - The partnership may give uniCenta a stronger payments offering as merchants look for more unified checkout systems. - Woodforest Acceptance Solutions appears to be using the deal to widen its reach with software partners bringing payments into their platforms.

The bottom line: - uniCenta is turning payments into a native part of its POS platform, with EMV, contactless and mobile wallet acceptance now embedded for U.S. merchants.