The senator wants Treasury to enhance fraud protection in the Direct Express prepaid program — now a partnership with Comerica Bank — when its contract is rebid in 2020.

When Visa first introduced an automobile prototype designed to include a payments platform in 2015, it stated the intention for this research and development to be part of a five-year plan.

Payments processor Noventis has teamed with Nexus, a real estate industry accounts-payable specialist, to streamline B2B payments between building operators and their suppliers.

Square has rolled out a software development kit for developers to add payments to their mobile apps, creating an end-to-end solution using only Square’s tools.

It may seem shortsighted, but online retailers need to be laser focused exclusively on what has traditionally worked to maximize online sales, writes Devaraj Southworth, co-founder and CEO of Thirstie.

The opportunity for banks and financial services firms, as well as venture capitalists, to serve the pet industry is massive and not being overlooked.

For several years, PayPal, Square, Adyen and Stripe have dominated the lucrative payments market. Now hundreds of upstarts with names like Bolt, Toast and Due are muscling into the market with their own twist on facilitating commerce between merchants and shoppers.

U.K.-based Nuggets is integrating its blockchain technology to existing payment rails, creating a system wherein merchants will no longer have to access or store consumers' personal data.

The country’s largest grocery retailer, Kroger, is partnering with Microsoft to pilot two connected experience stores for a proof of concept, featuring new retail technologies that will eventually be deployed across Kroger stores and be sold to the retail industry.

Despite controversy surrounding Ripple’s digital token, one bank is pushing forward to use it in cross-border payments.

Mastercard is counting on its logo to do the talking. It plans to drop its name from the Mastercard symbol in some physical and digital marketing and advertising situations.

Cashierless tech startup Standard Cognition has acquired the robotic mapping startup, Explorer.ai, to accelerate the rollout of its autonomous checkout solutions to retailers.

The coming year will bring a wave of data-sharing deals between banks and fintechs, increased bank use of automated advice, marked changes to financial jobs as a result of automation, and much more.

Sell-offs are happening all over, bitcoin has shown strength in the past and is attracting partnerships, argues Ken Gary, vice president of corporate strategy and development at Stafford Communications.

The payments process isn’t about just checking a box or signing a check anymore; it’s about cultivating genuinely beneficial relationships for all involved that build trust and drive growth, writes Ravi Thakur, senior vice president of business acceleration at Coupa.

Banks, retailers and technology companies have spent years relentlessly working to replace cash with plastic, digital or mobile alternatives. And cash has hit back hard.

Leveraging the trust relationship the bank already enjoys with its customers, based on robust security, engagements can go beyond run-of-the-mill transactions, writes Sherif Samy, senior vice president of North America at Entersekt.

Facebook’s WhatsApp unit has been testing its payments app in India since May; investors price in an almost a 90% probability of no Fed hikes this year.

A partnership between the mobile carrier and BankMobile could help stripped-down banking and deposit transfer services find a footing among U.S. customers.

London-based Vegannection has launched a prepaid card for vegans that’s accepted only at merchants that pass its standards test.