Technology

As the market deals with the short-term challenge of getting trillions of dollars of relief and stimulus payments into the hands of citizens in the coming weeks and months, we as a country have a unique opportunity to put our unbanked and underbanked citizens on a long-term path to electronic payment methods, says FIS' Jim Johnson.

Banco Santander has launched a new standalone international money transfer service called PagoFX in the U.K. to compete with fintechs.

Payments unicorn Stripe contends it has the financial power to apply its technology to coronavirus medical care, remote telework, business funding, and easier onboarding for companies that have been suddenly thrust into an internet existence.

Airwallex has raised $160 million in a Series D fundraising round to expand global payment offerings for small businesses and enterprises.

Facebook Inc. and its partners said their Libra cryptocurrency project will now support multiple versions of the digital coins, the majority of which will be backed by individual fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, as part of changes made to appease skeptical regulators worldwide.

As phishing and other attacks mount, a personal ID number can act as a second authentication factor, says LogRhythm Labs' James Carder.

As millions of U.S. consumers are beginning to see stimulus checks electronically deposited into their bank accounts as part of the CARES Act, many companies are wondering how Americans will spend these funds.

Wall Street trading arms benefited from first-quarter volatility, but it may not be enough to salvage future earnings; “unprecedented volume” of customers logging into their online bank accounts creates system overload at many banks.

IT projects are under scrutiny due to the coronavirus, not only in terms of budgets but also how fast firms can deploy automation for tasks such as business payments for companies that have turned to remote work.

While the primary focus for most credit card providers in March was on emphasizing fee forgiveness and payment deferral support, moving forward issuers need to focus on a mix of strategies to retain their cardholders' share of spend, says The Futurist Group's Demitry Estrin.