David Heun

South African investigators' revelation last week that fraudsters stole more than $3.2 million from the banking division of the country's post office more than a year ago served as a stark reminder that encryption doesn't mean a thing if the key is left unprotected.

Even the independent sales organizations that heeded the warnings of colleagues and experts for the past decade about not letting advancing payments technology pass them by weren't fully prepared for what the coronavirus pandemic would throw at them.

While a business seeking payments and business management services could piece together what it needs from a few different providers, it's increasingly easier to find fintechs and startups demonstrating how all services can funnel through one platform.

Mastercard has agreed to acquire Finicity for a reported price of $825 million, a move the card brand says will strengthen its open banking platform and expand financial services through more real-time access to data.

The Biblical narrative of the Tower of Babel was meant to explain why people throughout the world speak different languages, but in the modern-day payments version it apparently applies to the complex and problem-ridden transaction chargeback process.

The coronavirus has spawned a fear over handling cash, creating a problem for the common practice at restaurants of using a card to pay while leaving cash for the tip. Given the challenges and restrictions tied to reopening, it's a conundrum eateries can ill afford.

When launching an e-commerce service in Russia more than a year ago, Ingenico Group knew it was entering a complex financial and payments market, as well as one with domestic e-commerce ecosystems unique to each region.

By adding direct debit from bank accounts as a payment option, YayPay feels it is in a far better position to help the accounts receivable departments of U.S. businesses expand international growth.

Backed by its consumer survey acknowledging a significant shift in payment preferences to contactless options since the COVID-19 pandemic, Fattmerchant is launching software that can quickly add contactless payment acceptance for its merchants.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has endured a fairly choppy legal ride since unveiling its idea five years ago to establish a special charter for non-bank fintech companies to access a nationwide financial system for lending services without worrying about being licensed to do so in all 50 states.

Mobile commerce provider Bango has added Softbank Corp. customers to its list of Japanese mobile phone carriers whose customers can now make purchases in their Amazon accounts and charge the cost to their phone bill.

Inaccurate payments have plagued accounts payable and receivable departments from the time suppliers' contracts and invoices were stored in boxes and file drawers to the dawn of data-driven digital transactions.

Identity fraud holds no prisoners when it comes to payments. If a fraudster gets hold of a consumer's credentials, everything from mobile wallets, to a checking account, savings account or P2P account is in jeopardy of takeover.

Imagine you're a CEO on your first day on the job — and it's the early days of the coronavirus crisis. That was the situation Brady Harris found himself in when he took the top job at Dwolla, a payment company that we have covered for many years.

Coronavirus has made traveling a dicey proposition to begin with, but when U.K. consumers do venture beyond their homes during the pandemic, far fewer plan on using cash for payments.

Landesbank Berlin, a major issuer of co-branded cards in Germany, has launched a contactless card with German Automobile Club ADAC as its first project with European payments services provider SIA.

DBS Bank India is offering a real-time digital payment service for truck drivers and supply chain companies that generally have round-the-clock operations and large transaction volume to cover employee expenses.

U.K. fintech Rapyd is offering clients the ability to accept all payment methods through one application interface, a digital service it says eliminates the need for companies to develop complicated payments infrastructures.

In addition to Apple and Google delivering smartphone apps that would alert users that they are near a person infected by the virus, various other government agencies and businesses are developing that type of technology to address the pandemic's spread.

Sony has invested in digital transaction security firm MagicCube, citing it as the Sony Innovation Fund's first investment outside of Japan.