Faster payments

The Fed's faster payments platform may well roll out in three or four years, but by then it will already be outdated.

The past few months have provided no shortage of crises that call out for faster access to funds, giving developers a new impetus to hasten transaction processing.

Appearing to support decentralized systems, the acting comptroller of the currency said on a podcast that "the ultimate public ownership of the payment rails is when you have a network, like the internet, of interconnected institutions and computers."

John Drechny, the CEO of the Merchant Advisory Group, talks to PaymentsSource Associate Editor David Heun about how merchants are looking beyond the coronavirus crisis — and how every choice merchants make today will have consequences that last well beyond the pandemic.

The deal is said to be well-suited to the coronavirus era, when in-person transactions have been limited by social distancing and other factors.

Banks are utilizing an array of overlay services to address historical market challenges, such as the continued use of checks among businesses that do not have the information or capabilities to send digital payments.

The pandemic will have an impact on customer adoption of digital technologies. Financial institutions and fintechs can achieve growth by gaining consumers' trust and changing their mindset about new platforms.

The agency's voice carries even more weight in light of the coronavirus pandemic, which has hastened the transition to digital and remote payments.

The coronavirus pandemic has greatly disrupted many people's cashflow, and made financial management much more stressful. Earned wage access is one way to provide relief to those who still have an income but find themselves financially strained. PaymentsSource senior analyst Michael Moeser talks about earned wage access with Safwan Shah, the founder and CEO of Payactiv, a company that's operated in this space for nearly a decade.

Digital wallets arguably reached a tipping point this spring when contactless payments jumped 40% in response to concerns that cash and payment terminals were helping to spread the coronavirus, Vidya Peters of Marqeta writes.

Digital wallets arguably reached a tipping point this spring when contactless payments jumped 40% in response to concerns that cash and payment terminals were helping to spread the coronavirus, says Marqeta's Vidya Peters.

Payments in Brazil are about to make a significant pivot, turning a country in which consumers rely heavily on cash and remain skeptical about payment cards into the next region to pioneer faster payments.

The U.K.’s six major banking groups are now required to have implemented the new Confirmation of Payee (CoP) scheme for Faster Payments and Chaps as part of a regulatory push to tackle the rampant rise in Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud.

Speed isn't enough. There also has to be value and new products, says Icon Solutions' Toine Van Beusekom.

Mobile and contactless payments have generated more consumer attention as ways to safely move money during the coronavirus pandemic, but there's also a growing wave of support for The Clearing House's Real Time Payments network for banks.

Faster processing is not normal, and payment companies need to add more value to capture business, says Icon Solutions' Lauren Jones.

With the stakes now higher than ever, we can expect to see a marked acceleration in payments transformation initiatives, says Icon Solutions' Simon Wilson.

The sharing economy faces its first true crisis, but the payment companies that enable nontraditional payrolls say that the best way to fuel the recovery is to simply be more creative in how people get paid.

Coronavirus has taken a massive toll on suppliers, and emerging invoice methods are getting thrust into the mainstream to rescue cash-strapped businesses.

Mortgage lenders impose steep pricing adjustments for cash-out refinancing; bankers fear massive borrower fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program; some worry the coronavirus is giving banks an excuse to spy on employees; and more from this week's most-read stories.