Technology

While banks know they must develop and launch new tools that are useful, convenient and intuitive, figuring out which tools meet that objective and employing them often seems out of reach.

Using good, old-fashioned customer service and consultation to cut down on merchant attrition has been part of the acquiring playbook for years. But that playbook is long overdue for an update.

A bot-powered wave is on the way, and some firms will adapt, others will simply perish. It will be survival of the fittest, writes Beerud Sheth, founder and CEO of Gupshup.

The latest class of the Commerce.Innovated accelerator program run by Silicon Valley Bank and First Data demonstrates a focus on changing industries in addition to streamlining how people pay.

First Data Corp. and JotForm are working together on an integration enabling brick-and-mortar merchants to collect payments online more easily, along with detailed information on forms such as electronic signatures.

Payments processor iPayment Inc. is getting back into the merchant cash advance business.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) will provide U.S. banks with a gateway to The Clearing House's real-time domestic payments platform.

The real lag behind fintech started when banks rested on those online and mobile banking laurels and allowed other players in the mobile space to bypass them in working toward mobile point of sale payment services, writes Jack Jania, senior vice president of strategic payment alliances at Gemalto.

Society has accepted central banks’ monopoly over creating and controlling the flow of money, but history and current technological innovations point to alternative approaches.

Warren Buffett’s firm buys big stake in retail credit card issuer while dumping shares in its former parent, GE; long-awaited update speeds transactions in the digital currency network.