Technology

The payments firm Boku is uniting hundreds of fragmented mobile apps to compete with Visa and Mastercard for unbanked consumers in different regions of the world.

The IRS and Justice Department waged a successful campaign to crack down on UBS and other Swiss banks for facilitating tax evasion. Coinbase, Kraken and other crypto exchanges should take note.

The bank, which helped launch the real-time network for peer-to-peer payments, is trying to duplicate that success by helping corporate clients process certain transactions instantly with wholesale partners and, in some cases, retail customers.

The move means companies can give consumers options other than ACH transactions or debit cards to receive disbursements for insurance claims, health care or gig work.

Many customers in health care and other sectors remain resistant to new technologies. Here's how banks are trying to persuade them to adopt more efficient payments and back-office systems.

The card network plans to start removing stripes on cards in three years and will eliminate them entirely by 2033. That is expected to be enough time for most merchants to adjust, but gas station operators worry they won't be ready when the transition begins.

Inventors at Bank of America kept originating ideas, leading to a record-setting first half of the year, even while continuing to work from home.

In combining with the special-purpose acquisition company InterPrivate III Financial Partners, the fintech says it will have more than $400 million to pour into marketing campaigns and invest in new technology.

CEO Thomas Cangemi is pushing to modernize a bank that for decades was focused largely on multifamily lending. The company has already agreed to buy the mortgage lender Flagstar Bancorp and its partnership with Figure Technologies, a blockchain-focused fintech, has the potential to make that acquisition more productive.

The central bank wants financial institutions to enable additional routing options for online purchases, a change industry advocates say would strain the resources of smaller card issuers.