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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Even in mature markets, consumers may not feel very connected to their payment cards. This is making issuers more reliant on selling data-driven experiences over simple transaction processing.
By John AdamsJanuary 23 -
The future of brick and mortar retail is somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. Buried beneath a virtual sea in a place once called Xanadu is an underwater version of New York, a nautical Times Square where marquees scream “Piranha of the Opera,” and “Krill Grill.”
By John AdamsJanuary 22 -
By experimenting with palm-print hand wave transactions, Amazon is putting its resources behind another work-in-progress technology that traditional retailers will almost certainly have to invest in just to keep pace.
By John AdamsJanuary 21 -
Last week, Indian regulators ordered an antitrust probe of Walmart and Amazon while Jeff Bezos and other Amazon execs traveled to New Delhi to tout a $1 billion investment to digitize local businesses. The message is U.S. investment is welcome, as long as U.S.-driven data mining is kept at bay.
By John AdamsJanuary 20 -
The move to dump passwords in favor of more flexible authentication will likely happen in clusters, with schools providing many of the factors necessary.
By John AdamsJanuary 17 -
Before Visa agreed to acquire data company Plaid for $5.3 billion, Mastercard had been pulling ahead in the race among the card brands to break beyond reliance on basic processing fees.
By John AdamsJanuary 14 -
BBVA’s not sure if consumers or merchants will want to use an e-commerce marketplace to make bill payments in the same way they buy clothes — but if they do, BBVA wants to be the one to provide the necessary technology.
By John AdamsJanuary 14 -
In the battle to control consumer data, Visa has made a major score by agreeing to acquire Plaid, a technology company that it could have seen grow into a competitor.
By John AdamsJanuary 13 -
In the battle to control consumer data, Visa has made a major score by agreeing to acquire Plaid, a technology company that it could have seen grow into a competitor.
By John AdamsJanuary 13 -
After getting a reprieve from a 2017 deadline, gas stations now have less than a year to upgrade to EMV security at the pump — and the card brands aren't showing signs that they will be willing to postpone this mandate another time.
By John AdamsJanuary 13 -
China’s slow courting of U.S. payment companies made a tiny step forward this week, shortly after a similar gesture from the U.S. government that teases progress in the broader trade dispute.
By John AdamsJanuary 9 -
So far this year, Lloyds and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks have had payment failures in the U.K. And in the U.S., a software glitch at parking technology vendor Parkeon halted digital payments at meters in New York and other cities.
By John AdamsJanuary 9 -
Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project has drawn vast political pushback, but also more tangible government action as nations globally consider central bank supported digital currencies. It’s also sparking a potential bottom-up approach in New York.
By John AdamsJanuary 8 -
The economic outlook for the next year has been a moving target, but business payment companies fear that certain organizations are losing patience with the speed of transactions.
By John AdamsJanuary 7 -
Amazon is starting the new year with a major payment technology deployment at more than 11,500 gas stations, providing the e-commerce giant with an added leg to its rapidly expanding payments network ranging from checkout-free stores to Whole Foods to its own planned grocery chain.
By John AdamsJanuary 6 -
Europe's PSD2 data-sharing mandate is inspiring banks such as BBVA to form unconventional alliances.
By John AdamsJanuary 6 -
The success of Fiserv’s acquisition of First Data, FIS’ purchase of WorldPay, or Global Payments merger with TSYS rides on the companies’ ability to address merchants that are under extreme pressure.
By John AdamsDecember 20 -
Adyen’s aggressive year of client and technology additions has been capped off by adding McDonald’s to its network, bringing in a merchant with a huge appetite for streamlined app-driven transactions.
By John AdamsDecember 19 -
The Federal Reserve’s Lael Brainard this week tossed fresh regulatory pressure on Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project, comments that come as central banks around the world work on digital currencies to counter the social network’s cryptocurrency project.
By John AdamsDecember 18 -
Digital technology is increasingly connecting compensation and payment capabilities for contractors and creating an ability to share apps. It's a trend that’s brought Citi and PayPal together to offer flexibility and a network effect to counter fintechs.
By John AdamsDecember 16



















