Visa

Intuit has partnered with Visa to enable QuickBooks users to get faster access to funds through Visa Direct, the network’s debit push payments service.

The payments company’s departure from the association leading Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency plan is the clearest sign that skeptical policymakers are the plan's biggest obstacle.

Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency project has lost its first major ally. PayPal — where the head of Facebook's Libra project once served as president — has cut its ties. As a founding member, PayPal was expected to drive the payment-specific part of the cryptocurrency initiative.

The card networks are taking blockchain seriously as a means of streamlining cross-border B2B payments. But while they share a vision, they are taking different paths to this goal. Visa has opted for a closed network that it controls, while Mastercard envisages a wider, more open ecosystem.

Facebook is not the only global megabrand tied to the Libra cryptocurrency project, and with a steady drip of rumors about the partners bailing, pressure on Facebook is rising while partners weigh missing out on the initiative’s addressable market.

Incoming CEO Charles Scharf will remain in New York even though the bank's headquarters is in San Francisco. His hiring underscores the diminished importance of geographical proximity for executives at large banks.

Charles Scharf’s most immediate priorities will be mending fences with regulators and getting the bank out from under a Fed-imposed asset cap. But he also must come up with strategies for spurring revenue growth and reining in expenses.

Visa is leaning more heavily on its Issuers’ Clearinghouse Service to help banks combat the rise of synthetic fraud, which it attributes in part to a security measure adopted by the Social Security Administration years ago.

In the payments world, Scharf is best known as the CEO of Visa Inc. from 2012 to 2016, where his strategies for faster payments, fintech partnerships and other key issues may shed light on what he has planned when he becomes CEO of Wells Fargo.

Visa has launched an online portal for fintechs to explore payments technology and find resources such as shortcuts to applying for fintech licenses.