John Adams

Card issuers have pushed for more direct access to iPhones for years, and with the tech giant's policies facing fresh political and legal heat, Wells Fargo exec Ukrike Guigui says a more open mobile payment market would benefit merchants and consumers.

The standards body's new guidance would prevent vendors from managing multiple protocols in different countries.

The bank is working with invoicing vendor IFG to simplify the process of paying multiple suppliers.

Shortly after the reveal of Stripe Financial Connections, the CEO of its longtime partner Plaid took to Twitter to accuse the company of exploiting their relationship to build the new service. At stake is the growing market for digital transactions.

Environmental impact calculators, fee reductions and carbon offsets are becoming part of the playbook for BNY Mellon, Visa, Mastercard, Klarna and others.

The card network is making new security tools part of its expansion into non-payment services, hoping it can combat fraud that comes from its own account holders.

A new product called Financial Connections links businesses directly to customers' banks, giving the payment technology vendor a feature that makes it a direct competitor to data-fueled fintechs.

In global news this week, Grab gets approval to offer digital banking in Malaysia; Italy's post office invests $27 million in a a buy now/pay later lender; Apple struggles to appease Dutch regulators; and more.

"Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution Apple Pay," Margrethe Vestagar of the European Commission said. It's an accusation Apple's fought many times across the globe.

About two dozen banks in the U.S. and Europe, including ABN Amro and Bank of America, are working with The Clearing House and EBA Clearing, using technology from SWIFT, to make instant international transactions ubiquitous for business and e-commerce sales.