Visa

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.

When the payments industry's decision makers gathered in Los Angeles at SourceMedia's annual PayThink conference, certain topics dominated the discussion.

Infosys has joined Visa B2B Connect, a four-month old Visa hub that cuts indirect processes and intermediaries out of global business transactions.

The promise of real-time payments and the reality of the market are often at odds. That’s not a bad thing — it’s a sign there are pockets of demand that weren’t originally foreseen.