John Adams

JPMorgan Chase's recent purchase of a stake in the Greek fintech will allow the U.S. company to offer new services like merchant credit in Europe, where it is No. 5 among merchant acquirers.

Acquiring the earned-wage-access firm and challenger bank would further efforts by the retailer and its partners to develop a "super app" featuring mobile financial tools.

Though the retailer's threat to drop Visa in the U.K. appears to have subsided, companies like Clik2pay, Affirm and Curve have seized on an opportunity to advance account-to-account transactions, buy now/pay later and cryptocurrency.

Valuations for payment technology companies skyrocketed over the past year, pushed by a wave of public listings and record venture capital investments. Some potential acquirers are waiting for prices to cool.

The automaker plans to overhaul its online car-shopping portal, while also developing an in-car system for purchasing fuel, parking and other goods and services.

The card brands are pursuing partnerships with banks, government agencies and merchants, with a goal of building networks and services to accommodate the rise of central bank digital currencies.

If the payments company moves ahead with a digital currency rollout, its network of merchants and consumers as well as its retail-payments focus could give it the upper hand over banks, whose products are limited to cryptocurrency exchanges, wholesale payments and other specific uses.

The debut of new mobile wallets ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing is an impetus for the Federal Reserve to bring its own central bank digital currency project up to speed.

The credit bureaus plan to add repayment data for installment loans, a move that can inform credit decisions and help answer regulators' questions about how such borrowing affects consumers' financial health.

The inquiry looks into the tech company's requirement that developers use its in-app payment system, which has also faced scrutiny in the U.S. and elsewhere.