John Adams is executive editor of payments for American Banker. John interviews top executives in the payments, cryptocurrency and fintech industries, hosts podcasts, moderates conference panels and curates the new Payments Intelligence portal.
His work includes profiles of
John has been with American Banker and related products for 30 years, covering bank technology, advertising, mortgages and capital markets.
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Best known as a maker of ATMs and point-of-sale devices, Diebold Nixdorf is launching a new cloud platform to support merchants and their customers as transactions become more hardware-agnostic.
By John AdamsMarch 11 -
The bank's ongoing partnership with DailyPay complements services such as real-time billing and payments. This combination could help employers attract and retain employees amid the Great Resignation.
By John AdamsMarch 10 -
U.S. payment giants like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal — along with smaller companies like Paysera in Lithuania — have blocked transactions or pulled out of Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
By John AdamsMarch 7 -
The companies' moves came a day after Visa and Mastercard said they were halting business in Russia because of its attack on Ukraine.
By John AdamsMarch 6 -
Sendi Young, the blockchain company's European managing director, discussed how a partnership with fintech Modulr supports its ongoing efforts to streamline money movement in a world where many payment rails predate the modern internet.
By John AdamsMarch 3 -
The card brands have blocked Russia's large banks from their networks in response to the Ukraine invasion, a move that may dramatically limit retail transactions and cash availability at ATMs.
By John AdamsMarch 1 -
With tensions high between Russia and the West, Synechron is looking to develop a real-time kill switch that can shut down a malware threat. The company’s PayTech Accelerator is also focusing on the opportunity for banks in buy now/pay later lending.
By John AdamsFebruary 28 -
The firms are working to make this subset of cryptocurrency — which is designed to avoid wild swings in valuation — easier to adopt and more useful for routine transactions by focusing on "last mile, or user experience layer," says Jeremy Allaire, Circle's CEO.
By John AdamsFebruary 25 -
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is among the world leaders pushing for a ban, and U.S. President Biden was grilled about the possibility during a press conference where he announced sanctions in response to Russia's military action in Ukraine.
By John AdamsFebruary 24 -
Billing is becoming part of faster payments, a development the bank contends makes paper-based B2B payments "unsustainable" for businesses facing equipment and staff shortages.
By John AdamsFebruary 24 -
Marqeta COO Vidya Peters and Plaid COO Eric Sager discuss their plan to bypass the use of microdeposits — small transfers that are used to verify identity when linking accounts — to improve speed and security for consumers.
By John AdamsFebruary 24 -
The private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, which agreed to pay $1.8 billion to acquire the money transmitter, is the latest in a long line of potential buyers.
By John AdamsFebruary 17 -
Apple's planned update for accepting contactless payments on its handsets is as disruptive as it is inevitable. Companies like Ingenico, which makes point-of-sale hardware, have strategies in place to build on the tech giant's platform without sidelining their own devices.
By John AdamsFebruary 16 -
The money transmitter's $1.8 billion acquisition by Madison Dearborn Partners removes the need to appease investors on a quarterly basis, freeing up the company to invest in a long-term transformation of its technology.
By John AdamsFebruary 15 -
Mobile payments got an early start in parts of Africa more than a decade ago, but the continent's overall banking infrastructure lags far behind, creating a void for companies like AZA and WorldRemit to fill.
By John AdamsFebruary 14 -
In many cases, it's as difficult to move money as it is to move products around the globe. Firms like Rapyd and BNY Mellon are trying to ease concerns that businesses have about automating payments, with a goal of reducing friction in an increasingly complex global economy.
By John AdamsFebruary 11 -
Law enforcement officials want Visa, Mastercard and American Express to help curtail sales of "ghost guns," which are unregistered mail-order firearms that buyers assemble at home.
By John AdamsFebruary 9 -
The U.K. fintech sees itself as a competitor to Block and PayPal's Bitcoin-trading operations, with plans to offer Americans banking services such as a savings account in the near future.
By John AdamsFebruary 9 -
Tap to Pay on iPhone turns any of the tech giant's recent smartphones into a card reader, but since Apple doesn't provide its own merchant services, it stops short of becoming a direct threat to acquirers and payment facilitators.
By John AdamsFebruary 8 -
The $650 million deal would add services for financial institutions seeking a faster path to upgrade their technology.
By John AdamsFebruary 7




















