As consumers use digital subscriptions for everything from streaming movies to cooking meals, financial apps are taking different approaches to helping their customers navigate recurring payments. Should banks get in on the action?

The payments company is opening its real-time payments network, Visa Direct, to stablecoins through a prefunding pilot that will allow businesses to move money across borders when banks are closed.

Real-time cross-border payments are in demand, but lack interoperability — creating demand for Swift and Ripple to add new tech. Plus, PayPal pledges to add payment technology in the Middle East and Africa, and more international payments and fintech news.

Eight years after its launch, Early Warning's peer-to-peer payments platform Zelle is so ubiquitous it's almost a verb. It's looking for similar recognition for Paze in its jersey patch partnership with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.

The bank teamed up with Euronet Worldwide subsidiary Dandelion for cross-border payments to digital wallets in the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Colombia in an optionality play.

Payment-focused fintechs are acquiring – and keeping – merchants' business thanks to services such as fraud prevention, analytics financing and loyalty tools, according to Capgemini's 2026 World Payments Report. If banks want to compete, they'll need to change their game.

PayPal agrees to a $7 billion BNPL loan purchase agreement with Blue Owl Capital, while Revolut, which is building a financial superapp, is looking for permission to offer more banking products. That and more in the American Banker global payments and fintech roundup.

The money transfer fintech expanded its Austin office 200% to 90,000 square feet as it looks toward accelerating growth in North America. The company also separately inked a new partnership with Upwork to add Wise Platform as an infrastructure provider for freelancer payouts.

PayPal, Google and Mastercard in recent days expanded support for agentic AI commerce. Card issuers will need to respond quickly to compete, payment experts say.

The two BNPL giants' pay-over-time loans will now be available for in-store purchases on Apple Pay in a move to capture more sales at brick and mortar stores.

Visa is introducing a premium service to the Middle East, and Lloyds Banking says its cash protection product is showing results. Plus, Brex teams up with Doordash and more in the American Banker global payments and fintech roundup.

Google has launched its Agent Payments Protocol, an open protocol that establishes a payment-agnostic framework for users, merchants and payments in agentic AI. Payment companies such as Adyen, American Express, Mastercard and PayPal helped develop the protocol.

Early Warning Service's peer-to-peer payments network saw payment volume growth accelerate in the first six months of 2025, buoyed once again by small-business payments.

The world's largest stablecoin issuer is preparing to launch USAT, its U.S.-regulated, dollar-backed stablecoin, by the end of the year, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino told reporters at an event in New York. Bo Hines was also named CEO of USAT.

Block's transfer service partnered with fundraising and donor management platform Givebutter for philanthropic payments in an effort to capture even more young consumers' payment volume.

The U.K.-based super app expanded its partnership with Google Cloud as it looks to advance account-to-account payments; Global Payments launches Genius platform in the U.K.; and more in this week's global payments roundup.

The Swedish lender best known for buy now/pay later financing in the U.S. became a public company Wednesday, five months after it delayed its IPO due to President Donald Trump's tariff policy.

Zelle secured a deal with Alacriti to help Alacriti's bank clients adopt person-to-person payments; Paze teamed up with Canadian payment processor Nuvei to expand merchant use of the wallet.

The appointment ends a seven-month search for a permanent CEO. Milotich was named interim CEO in February following the resignation of former CEO and director Simon Khalaf.