John Adams

The payment company is blending technology from its Swedish subsidiary with other features, such as invoicing, to provide a more robust offering to U.S. merchants.

The timepieces are meant to appeal to consumers who are comfortable with wearable payments but prefer something simpler than a high-end smartwatch.

An initiative among EU nations called Project Jura focuses on financial institutions as the users of central bank digital currencies, removing variables that could slow testing and deployment.

The bank is forming a joint venture with Fiserv to promote digital payments. It's a market that has evolved substantially — and become far more competitive — since Deutsche left it in 2012.

Utah Community Credit Union and state officials as part of an experiment are letting consumers use electronic ID to open accounts and conduct other business. It's easier said than done.

U.S. regulators blocked the card network's attempt to buy Plaid last year for antitrust reasons. Its bid to acquire Tink, a similar company based in Sweden, may have a better shot given European officials' desire to promote open banking.

Under federal health plans, categories like dental still have steep out-of-pocket costs, creating opportunities for companies like Sunbit and Ally Lending to provide options at the point of care.

Beauty shops must handle transactions for multiple employees and contractors operating under one roof. Tech companies are customizing software and transaction processing services for this niche.

A growing number of companies like Klarna, Sezzle and Circle let consumers split large purchases into smaller transactions paid over time. But they say they need to offer more than one product to set themselves apart and build customer loyalty.

Rapyd's new venture capital arm seeks companies that can develop or benefit from an international identity verification system.

Six Clovers, a digital payments company founded by two former PayPal developers, designed its Rapid platform to enable fast cross-border transactions using cryptocurrencies backed by government-issued money.

More than 97% of venture backing goes go white-owned startups. Firms like Mendoza Ventures, Chingona Ventures and MaC Venture Capital are stepping in to support underserved entrepreneurs.

The bank is shortening the time for deposit availability in the hope of serving use cases like gig economy workers and disaster relief.

The company's payment processing platform supports the likes of Uber and Square in their ambitions to create all-in-one offerings that bundle financial and other services.

The card brand has added a dedicated lane to its startup program to address the venture funding gap for race and gender. Overall, less than 3% of VC funding goes to startups with Black or Latinx founders.

The e-commerce giant is looking for someone whose skills pertain to distributed ledgers and digital currency.

The move furthers the retail giant's strategy to become a one-stop shop for payments and financial services.

The bank and card brand will combine digital connections for supply chain finance and corporate disbursements.

The U.K.'s central bank says stablecoins should follow the same rules as traditional bank deposits.

From China to the Bahamas, central banks are rushing to create digital currencies that could be used for everything from attending the Olympics to helping the unbanked. Here are some notable initiatives.