Stripe

Investors and deep-pocketed payments firms have funneled hundreds of billions of dollars into the payments industry, demanding results in areas as wide ranging as digital processing, consumer experience, risk management and compliance.

Point of sale credit can be an alluring option for consumers who are normally averse to taking on debt. The allure is also enough to draw support from one of Australia’s largest banks and the digital merchant acquiring giant Stripe.

Kabbage Inc. is offering tailored loans to small businesses that have unexpected cash flow needs, hoping to grab a wider share of its clients' relationships.

As 2020 dawns, a new decade will soon bring new levels of friction for contactless customers as a result of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), a key part of the European Union’s drive to reduce card fraud across Europe.

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.

French marketplace payment processor Lemon Way has raised €25 million from Toscafund Asset Management to help banks compete with the likes of Adyen, Paysafe, and Stripe in the fast-growing marketplace sector.

Adyen has traditionally focused on streamlining card acceptance, processing and settlement for online payments, and now it wants control more of the merchant relationship by enabling merchants to issue virtual and physical payment cards.

As regulatory pushback against Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency has accelerated, keeping the project together has become a major challenge, with Visa, Mastercard, Visa, eBay and Stripe joining PayPal in leaving the project.

Companies like Stripe provide a needed source of capital, but should expand lending beyond their existing base, says Become's Eden Amirav.

As fintechs like Stripe and Square close in on NCR's traditional businesses, the technology company is adding scale in southeastern markets through a purchase of Midwest POS Solutions.