Merchant

By deploying voice biometrics, organizations including large banks, government agencies, telcos and retailers can not only make the process of authentication easier, but also can protect their customers’ identities from being compromised in the case of a hack, writes Brett Beranek, director of product strategy at Nuance.

Some were sold at discounted prices, while others were shut down by their acquirers or quietly ceased doing business.

Both in dollar and transaction volume, credit card use is growing at a faster pace than debit use. Much of the growth is coming from affluent consumers who value rewards like 2% cash back on purchases.

Major retailers accept bitcoin, and BitPay reports that it will process more than $1 billion in payments this year. Even McDonald's is reportedly considering that it will accept bitcoin payments, writes consultant Collin Canright.

Analytics can customize experience for consumers and allow consumers to customize the experience for themselves, writes Matt Wilcox, senior vice president of marketing, strategy and innovation for digital banking at Fiserv.

Seven trade associations — including those representing banks and credit unions — sent a joint letter to Congress outlining data security standards for entities that handle financial data.

Thousands of rank-and-file merchants are gaining access to validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) for protection from malware within payment terminals, an attack vector that other popular security technologies might miss.

Though Marlene Caride has no direct experience in the banking industry, she could play a key role in carrying out Governor-elect Phil Murphy’s pledge to create a public bank in the Garden State.

Businesses should not only focus on securing payments that come through, but also pay attention to account creation and logins to prevent them from becoming additional vulnerable points of exploitation, writes Justin Lie, CEO of CashShield.

The economy is ripe for another downturn in the months or years to come, and banks shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security.