Fintech

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board plans to get a better idea of how Americans are making payments — when they don’t use cash.

SmartyPig is hoping people will start saving in the same way they "like" or tweet about a product online — with a click or a tap. The Des Moines company, which provides an online savings account and a prepaid card, has created a Chrome plugin to help with specific savings goals.

Cash trapping is on the rise and in response, the ATM Industry Association has published a manual detailing emerging fraud trends and methods for ATM owners to combat the problem.

American Express Co., the lender that plans to cut 5,400 jobs this year, said profit at its U.S. card business declined 42 percent in the fourth quarter as the firm set aside more money to cover soured loans.

The concept of making anonymous online transactions is in the spotlight because of the prominence of the digital currency Bitcoin, but most consumers remain uneasy with the cryptocurrency's instability and risk. An alternative for the privacy-minded might sprout from Tor, or The Onion Router.

One week after American Express Co. announced that its fourth-quarter earnings fell sharply from a year earlier, the company filled in more details Thursday.

American Express Co., the lender that plans to cut 5,400 jobs this year, said profit at its U.S. card business declined 42 percent in the fourth quarter as the firm set aside more money to cover soured loans.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is all about money — but increasingly, the question is whether it's about protecting money or making money.

A week after it announced involvement in the first contactless payment program in Germany, French terminal maker Ingenico SA says it plans to do the same thing in Portugal.

PayPal has won repeated partnerships with large merchants for its new point of sale payment system, but it paced itself with consumer adoption — a strategy the eBay unit seeks to change in 2013.