Technology

2019 kicked off with a series of large, multibillion-dollar acquisitions that promised to forever change the landscape of the payments industry. And while those big deals were clustered at the start of the year, many other pivotal deals took place over the course of the year.

When the European Union began developing the Single Euro Payments Area more than a decade ago, it didn't include a vision for real-time payments and the potential for a third European payments scheme.

New, risk-based technologies powered by AI and machine learning (ML) enable financial institutions to analyze transaction, device, geographical and behavioral data to make real-time security decisions, detecting and preventing fraud as it happens, says OneSpan's Michael Crichton.

By adding strong authentication to the “tap,” consumers can benefit from greater security without harming the user experience of contactless. Or slowing throughput time for merchants, says Fingerprints’ Lina Aondolf-Orup.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Mastercard are targeting value-added merchant services with a £60 million investment in London-based Pollinate Networks.

As 2020 dawns, a new decade will soon bring new levels of friction for contactless customers as a result of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), a key part of the European Union’s drive to reduce card fraud across Europe.

The big acquisitions of 2019 have created an environment for more deals to come, says FICO's Tim VanTassel.

Online payment processor Allied Wallet is now accepting Alipay as part of its payment gateway to help simplify payments between the U.S. and China.

The prepaid card pioneer's banking-as-a-service platform might make it an attractive acquisition for an enterprise technology giant or bank, analysts say.

The prepaid card pioneer's banking-as-a-service platform might make it an attractive acquisition for an enterprise technology giant or bank, analysts say.