Mastercard

The card network, which reported earnings on Thursday, reports some early impacts on travel payments, and has set up a site to help customers with questions about changes in consumer and business spending habits.

The credit card giant's BVNK acquisition wasn't a bet on crypto hype. It was a hedge against irrelevance. It suggests that the companies that defined the last era of finance are now preparing for a very different future.

Emerging forms of artificial intelligence are moving so fast, traditional IT training isn't an easy fit. New research from American Banker shows how banks are handling training.

Visa has deployed advanced artificial intelligence to help solve payment disputes and expedite corporate bill pay; while Mastercard adds Hong Kong to its global agentic commerce network.

Recurring payments for stuff like streaming content can get lost in the shuffle, creating an opportunity for the big card brands.

The Minneapolis-based bank will issue the cards, and Mastercard will act as the network provider. American Express formerly ran the e-commerce giant's business credit card programs.

BVNK's technology enables traditional currency and stablecoins to work together, and will enable the card network to improve distribution for clients that use digital assets.

The card network hopes to increase revenue from non-card payments and is tapping two major technology trends.

Visa is using AI agents to streamline payment disputes, while Mastercard launched "digital executives" for small businesses.

Fintechs and the technology behind cryptocurrency are becoming popular, putting trillions in transaction value at risk for banks, according to Accenture.

Stripe has expanded its Shared Payment Tokens, a foundational building block to protect agentic commerce, to work with Visa and Mastercard's tokens. It's also added Affirm and Klarna.

In separate arrangements, Mastercard is working with SoFi and Visa is working with Bridge to build scale in anticipation of greater demand for the digital asset.

The Olympics are boosting spending in Italy, large-in-part thanks to Americans. In the U.K., Barclays is reportedly leading a meeting to seek support for an existing project. The meeting comes against the backdrop of geopolitical concerns and the dominance of American-based payment firms.

The card network is enabling organizations to monitor risk systems and receive grades and plans of action for improvement.

The president has called for a 10% interest rate cap and endorsed the Credit Card Competition Act. Michael Miebach expressed strong opposition to the CCCA while expressing concern about a cap's potential impact on access to credit.

The card network's Start Path engagement program is scouring the technology world for entrepreneurs working on the new form of artificial intelligence.

With fintechs and legal cases pressuring payment fees, the card companies are leaning more on revenue from other sources.

The card network and bank technology seller partnered to expand AI protocols, while British payment companies face tougher fee disclosures but looser rules for contactless transactions. That and more in the American Banker global payments and fintech roundup.

The card networks have entered a series of partnerships in Europe and Asia amid signs of growing demand and Apple's waning control over the underlying technology.

The card networks entered separate partnerships to tap the remittance market, while the French payment company continued its turnaround strategy following regulatory and economic challenges.