Payments News from American Banker

Firms like Brex and Ramp are adding new tech faster than legacy banks, according to payment experts.

The company is becoming a full-fledged processor and accelerating its artificial intelligence plays, moves CEO Paulette Rowe said provide more control over agentic commerce, which payment experts say is threatening traditional payment facilitators.

Canadian banks, financial institutions, fintechs and commerce companies have come together to develop a Canadian dollar-backed stablecoin that is slated to go live in early 2026. The move comes as U.S.-based banks continue to evaluate their own participation in the post-GENIUS Act world.

Fintechs and banks are rapidly placing checkout inside apps, e-commerce sites and travel services, standing on the shoulders of a new generation of artificial intelligence and data science to revolutionize customer experience. Some of the bank executives leading the charge spoke with American Banker about the innovation's potential.

The "Roughrider" coin, which is scheduled to launch in early 2026, will be the first state stablecoin to launch on Fiserv's digital asset platform.

The retail giant is betting on the mainstream appeal of digital assets, while Lloyds' cash-preservation strategy gains steam. That and more in American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup.

The Fairmont, West Virginia, bank is taking a $7.6 million hit to rid itself of $73 million in long-duration, low-yielding securities, though the sale of its payments subsidiary the week before cushions the blow.

The messaging service is building a network of banks to support the technology that underpins digital currencies. Technology experts say this "single location" concept encourages legacy institutions to adopt digital assets, but it's just one of many options.

Frank Bisignano, the former chairman and CEO of Fiserv, will become the "CEO" of the IRS, a newly created role, in addition to his post running the Social Security Administration.

The London-based firm is seeking a license that would provide a direct connection between merchants and card networks, reducing reliance on third parties and brandishing the London company's image as a player in America.

The CardWorks subsidiary has officially taken over Ally Financial's Ollo credit card portfolio, ending a five-year dance between the two companies that first had Ally buying CardWorks for $2.7 billion.

As consumers use digital subscriptions for everything from streaming movies to cooking meals, financial apps are taking different approaches to helping their customers navigate recurring payments. Should banks get in on the action?

The payments company is opening its real-time payments network, Visa Direct, to stablecoins through a prefunding pilot that will allow businesses to move money across borders when banks are closed.

A flurry of product launches are designed to keep the payment company's merchants in-house by making it easier to deploy artificial intelligence-driven payments and stablecoins.

Real-time cross-border payments are in demand, but lack interoperability — creating demand for Swift and Ripple to add new tech. Plus, PayPal pledges to add payment technology in the Middle East and Africa, and more international payments and fintech news.

Eight years after its launch, Early Warning's peer-to-peer payments platform Zelle is so ubiquitous it's almost a verb. It's looking for similar recognition for Paze in its jersey patch partnership with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

The bank added an AI assistant to improve business payment tools, a move that comes at the same time that Citigroup and Temenos pushed their strategies for emerging AI at banks.

After a slump of several years, there's been a renewal of payment and financial tech firms going public.

The cards, which are expensive, have not grown quickly. But payment companies are angling for a pickup.

The bank teamed up with Euronet Worldwide subsidiary Dandelion for cross-border payments to digital wallets in the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Colombia in an optionality play.