John Adams

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.

As the adoption of real-time payments grows, companies like Mastercard, ACI Worldwide and The Clearing House are bringing together data from banks, credit unions and merchants to catch scammers.

Card networks are poised to connect to nonfungible tokens, issuers are revamping rewards, and regulators are taking greater interest in installment loans. These developments and more bear watching in the year ahead.

Consumers are pushing card networks and issuers to develop programs that reward them for spending on sustainable products and other initiatives to mitigate climate change.

The social network, now called Meta Platforms, is buying the South Dakota bank's name for $60 million.