Landesbank Berlin, a major issuer of co-branded cards in Germany, has launched a contactless card with German Automobile Club ADAC as its first project with European payments services provider SIA.

Innovating is tough even in ordinary times, but during the coronavirus pandemic many payments startups had to dig into deeper reserves of creativity and resilience to meet expectations.

The challenges may seem daunting, financial institutions and fintechs must focus on identifying meaningful opportunities based on the financial priorities of consumers and businesses to help them weather these difficult times.

Many of the payment innovations of the past decade got an early start in Canada, building a base of users and habits the nation hopes will make the pivot to post-coronavirus commerce easier than other markets.

American Express has added 26 Caribbean nations to the list of countries where it’s raised the ceiling on contactless transactions that may be conducted without PINs, to reduce consumers’ exposure to touching PIN pads.

The coronavirus pandemic has made paper money literally a dirty word, causing a rush to digital payments that may be too fast for Western Union and MoneyGram to keep up with as separate companies.

The global coronavirus outbreak has up-ended daily life for many consumers, including where they shop and how they pay for things. The U.K. is no exception, as issues of health and hygiene have now been introduced as important factors when it comes to both planned and impulse shopping.

New technologies can provide recommendations and proactively engage with customers and members to help them pay their bills or pay friends and proactively manage their financial well-being, says Payrailz's Mickey Goldwasser.

While open banking is a fascinating movement poised to benefit consumers and spark significant innovation in financial services, the world must weigh convenience vs. risk and approach the inherent privacy and security concerns with caution, says Imperva's Terry Ray.

By targeting the API rather than scripting a form fill, bad actors are leveraging the same efficiency and flexibility that APIs provide developers, says Cequence Security's Matt Keil.