David Heun

As the coronavirus pandemic has driven more people to work from home and shop online, the demands on digital, faster payment systems have been heightened — as have the opportunities for fraudsters to exploit them.

The conversation around advancing the distribution and use of digital currency gets a boost every time the banking system stubs its toe. And there have been many recent examples of financial system problems to point to.

As the Federal Reserve's FedNow instant payments and settlement system enters into testing and use-case development phases, an emphasis on speed to market, ubiquity and compatibility with other systems remains in the forefront.

Speed stands at the forefront of any real-time payments deployment, but the real staying power in new payments innovation rides on the development philosophy of the platform itself.

Financial Software and Systems is upgrading the card management technology for Everlink Payment Services in Canada, converting the legacy card issuing and transaction processing systems to a single digital platform.

After two years of helping banks connect globally to domestic faster payments rails, Swift is planning to expand on that concept.

After two years of helping banks connect globally to domestic faster payments rails, Swift is planning to expand on that concept.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced retailers and consumers alike to consider the benefits of shopping via a mobile app, providers of shopping and loyalty apps were seeking partnerships with security vendors to deploy fraud prevention technology.

With businesses requiring stronger liquidity, BMO will use its online platform and Interac's receivables service to support simultaneous near real-time payment requests to multiple recipients.

The pandemic has spurred a major push toward speedier digital transactions, making it an expeditious time for the Faster Payments Council to expand the range of input it gets to expand its mission.

BNY Mellon has launched a system that automates medical and dental insurance claim payments, attaches benefit explanations and enables virtual card support for medical providers.

The pandemic-driven move to electronic payments isn't slowing down, and card issuers are finding an eager group of innovators promising a speedy migration to digital card production.

Donor management provider Pushpay has added new software that will help churches target donations through digital channels while providing more interactions and communication within congregations.

FIS' purchase of Worldpay in 2019 required Ellyn Raftery, the company's chief marketing and communication's officer, to reshape its brand to showcase the strengths of both companies — all while a major global pandemic hastened her timeline.

Cross-border payments provider dLocal is offering its technology platform for Spotify users in Latin America, enabling alternative payment methods for underbanked Spotify Premium customers purchasing digital music.

Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, Tenn., is among the first to enable real-time payment posting into Epic systems and a single deposit that reconciles daily with the Baptist Memorial system.

With consumers and merchants alike sharing the need to be paid faster, the case for adopting real-time payments globally has quickly advanced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the mega payments deals of 2019 left the acquiring landscape somewhat scorched, the COVID-19 pandemic planted new seeds to allow ISOs to grow by quickly converting merchants to electronic payments.

Various efforts to limit cash were in motion well before the global health crisis, but merchant and consumer digital money habits being built during the pandemic will carry on for many years, thus leaving cash sidelined in many purchasing scenarios.

Advocates of allowing merchants to add a surcharge to defray the cost of credit card interchange have had to overcome network bureaucracy, state laws and even ingrained habits among the merchants themselves.