Technology

A Cleveland startup’s play in the crowded and noisy P2P market is to nudge the transaction as close to digital version of paper money as possible — without Venmo’s social tools or Zelle’s email model.

Cryptocurrencies will come and go but blockchain will flourish, because it has game-changing use cases that will fundamentally improve the way financial transactions get done, according to Vinay Pai, senior vice president of engineering at Bill.com.

Traditional U.S. retail is in crisis at the hands of e-commerce. Bankers have a role to play to stop the bleeding through a combination of service, incentives, and payments technology.

Regulation is effectively priming the virtual currencies ecosystem for banks to engage by increasing transparency, reducing some of the associated risk, and lowering the barriers to entry. All of this will make it easier for banks to establish a role and to design new payment products, writes Elina Mattila, executive director at Mobey Forum.

The San Francisco fintech, which uses artificial intelligence to make consumer credit decisions, has raised an additional $50 million. It also announced new partnerships with lenders and plans for a credit card.

Mergers and acquisitions in the payments segment rose 16 percent in 2018, fueled in part by PayPal closing two large deals.

Many U.S. banks, especially in Florida, are struggling to comply with U.S. sanctions against the Maduro regime. Some argue artificial intelligence can make it easier to distinguish between legitimate payments and illicit transactions.

Because various aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation were made public two years before they became official law, European lawmakers naturally felt it gave companies plenty of time to get data security compliance in place. But it appears most companies either lost track of time or haven't solved the compliance puzzle yet.

Payment processor and financial messaging integrator Volante Technologies is partnering with the Banco Base financial group to provide end-to-end payments software for domestic and international payments.

Community banks are open to working with innovative financial startups, but regulators must ensure they face the same oversight standards as traditional banks.