Debit cards

The spread of Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and Samsung's Bixby is changing the way consumers interact with technology. Behind the scenes, artificial intelligence is doing more than ever to handle and protect payments.

Most larger credit unions have reissued chip-enabled cards, but some small CUs have lagged — and it’s nearly impossible to get an industry-wide picture of where adoption stands.

The fintech is partnering with Choice Financial in North Dakota to create a Douugh-branded checking account and debit card that will prominently feature an AI-based virtual assistant named Sophie.

In the U.S., Visa Direct has emerged as one of the few go-to tools for fast payments in a market that is overdue for such options. The product's true test begins now, as Visa launches it in Europe, where faster payments options are far more plentiful.

The Canadian payment system is evolving into something almost completely different, an evolution that's birthing new ideas to handle authentication.

Startups and banks have watched for years as young consumers shifted from credit cards to debit cards to, finally, P-to-P apps. But what's driving that shift may not be what the providers intended.

Cash is resilient, especially during times of crisis or uncertainty. But there are significant efforts to make cash less relevant in areas where it has typically been a mainstay.

Same-day ACH debits rolled out last month, a year after same-day credits, cutting processing time for these payments from a couple of days to a few hours — but for many emerging use cases, that’s not fast enough. And debit is filling the void.

The explosion of interest in digital assets this year, and the multiplying of their market value, are making cryptocurrency debit cards newly attractive. Banks could partner with intermediaries or issue the cards directly, but obstacles remain before that day can arrive.

A form of digital money known as Monaco gained as much as 695 percent in value since May 17, when its issuing company tweeted that it would offer a Visa Inc.-branded payment card.