Visa

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.

In this week's American Banker global payments and fintech roundup, Revolut, Tether and Circle made announcements designed to improve their standing in the stablecoin market. That comes amid new research from McKinsey that says the digital asset is growing quickly, but has not made even a small dent in payments.

Andrew Torre, the card network's president of Value-Added Services, said demand for security, agentic commerce and better processing are creating demand for technology and consulting.

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 iOS technology enables payments without requiring merchants to add extra hardware. The card network is embedding the option into a broader suite of merchant technology to bolster its services strategy amid competition from Mastercard and fintechs like Block and Stripe.

By pairing its real-time transfer app with China's UnionPay card, Visa is pursuing business in the huge country, where shifting regulations create hurdles for outside companies.

CEO Ryan McInerney reiterated the company's long-held stance that the Credit Card Competition Act was "very harmful" and "just simply not needed."

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.

Visa launched its Stablecoin Advisory Practice, a value-added service from its consultancy arm Visa Consulting & Analytics, to help financial institutions, fintechs and merchants deploy stablecoin 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.

The card network is making a digital wallet push following the Digital Markets Act, which dilutes Apple's control over mobile payments technology.

Companies such as Google, Visa and Mastercard are building a framework that will allow AI agents to shop and make payments. There are signs that consumers are warming to the idea.

Acquisition talks fell through in the final hours, according to reports. Also: Visa launched another stablecoin pilot on Visa Direct; the Bank of England seeks input on stablecoin restrictions; and more in this week's global payments roundup.

Following a judge's rejection of a 2024 settlement with merchants, the card networks are offering a slightly higher interchange reduction and easing card acceptance rules. It's the latest attempt to end a legal fight that's two decades old.