U.S.

Challenging business conditions, exacerbated by coronavirus fears, have disrupted organizers' planning efforts.

Afterpay, whose online installment loans are seeing strong growth in the U.S. apparel sector, has partnered with Oakland, Calif.-based processor Marqeta to develop additional payment products and services.

Afterpay has found an opening in the U.S. by targeting the millennials who don't have a credit card to use at the point of sale.

Credit unions could be feeling some of the heat from critics of their bank takeovers, or simply gearing up for another round of activity.

The formerly invite-only challenger bank Majority has launched across the U.S. offering free remittances to four African countries.

Pushback from banks, a smaller pool of sellers and potential regulatory hurdles could pose setbacks for credit unions this year.

While not as large as the U.S. both in number of people and number of credit card owners, the U.K. remains a very lucrative market for issuing banks and card networks, as well as a host of alternative financial service providers catering to younger, underserved consumers.

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.

In its proposal to obtain one of the full digital banking licenses Singapore will award later this year, online gaming company Razer has laid out the gaps between what traditional banks offer and young adults need.

Online payment processor Allied Wallet is now accepting Alipay as part of its payment gateway to help simplify payments between the U.S. and China.