Merchant

BayFirst Financial in St. Petersburg shuttered a national small-dollar 7(a) loan program in August. Now the $2.4 billion institution, which has been one of the nation's most active SBA lenders over the past decade, is making a clean break from the business.

Payment-focused fintechs are acquiring – and keeping – merchants' business thanks to services such as fraud prevention, analytics financing and loyalty tools, according to Capgemini's 2026 World Payments Report. If banks want to compete, they'll need to change their game.

Six class action lawsuits seek over $5 million after an insider accessed sensitive records.

A Small Business Administration policy enacted during the second Trump administration blocks not only people who are in the country illegally, but also legal temporary residents and even some U.S. citizens, from accessing government-guaranteed loans.

The fintech, which powers debt collections for banks and credit unions, received a "strategic investment" from Vista Equity Partners to expand into agentic AI.

The government-powered network is allowing larger payments to settle instantly, a move The Clearing House has also made for its RTP network. Payment experts say more than higher limits are needed to make speedy processing ubiquitous.

The bank is selling a bundle of products that enable businesses to store global currencies inside the U.S. in FDIC-insured accounts, lowering foreign exchange risk and reliance on third parties.

Researchers warn the Android banking trojan can steal money, drain crypto wallets and enable NFC relay fraud.

Zelle secured a deal with Alacriti to help Alacriti's bank clients adopt person-to-person payments; Paze teamed up with Canadian payment processor Nuvei to expand merchant use of the wallet.

Bank clients of Jack Henry's digital platform provider Banno can offer stock rewards programs directly to their customers via a partnership with Bits of Stock.