Loyalty and rewards

PayPal and Barclays have formed a strategic partnership enabling Barclays customers in the U.K. and U.S. to manage their Barclays and PayPal accounts within each app.

Amazon's increasingly weird ideas for getting products to Prime customers — grocery delivery, in-home delivery and now in-car delivery — point to an unsettling conclusion: Amazon, for all its market dominance, is pushing the limits of who it can reach with traditional package delivery.

Amazon.com Inc. has partnered with General Motors Co. and Volvo Cars to deliver packages to car trunks in 37 U.S. cities, as the e-commerce giant seeks new delivery methods for customers who may be wary of leaving packages outside or allowing couriers into their homes.

Major card brands have been competing to surpass each other with rewards and premium card offerings for decades, but American Express still views the premium card world as one it dominates.

LevelUp had a lot of failed experiments along the way, but it still won over major partners and is seeing new results in the restaurant industry.

Two years ago, Marriott split its customers between two card issuers following its acquisition of Starwood Hotels. Rather than choose one over the other, the chain has challenged Amex to draw a clear line between its cobrand card and that issued by Chase.

Following a series of high-profile merchant defections, the Plenti multi-merchant rewards program will end on July 10. The program's treatment of merchant exclusivity may have proven too limiting.

Driving an Uber car isn't like many other jobs, and drivers' payments and expenses are also very different. Much of those differences are built on Green Dot technology, and the bank is ready to see if its platform can work for more than just Uber.

This year could be a pivot point for blockchain to move past proofs of concept to adoption, propelled by strong investor interest. But many still see the tech as being three to four years away from going mainstream.

A new cobranded Uber debit card from Green Dot’s GoBank unit gives drivers 3% cash back if they choose PIN entry when filling their tanks at ExxonMobil stations, affirming the persistence of PINs in an increasingly digital payments environment.