Payment processing

The companies could bring something new, such as merchant acquiring to community banks, but their merger could also cause anxiety about giant vendors.

Bank technology giants FIS and Fiserv are spending nearly $66 billion between them in just the past few weeks to add a broad swath of payments technology — including a few key nuggets that will help them go toe to toe with fintechs.

Given the size of the deal — which includes about $9 billion of Worldpay’s debt on top of a $34 billion bid — the pressure’s on to build a global powerhouse that can counter other major fintech mergers announced in the past weeks. FIS must also emerge as a nimble rival to the startups that threaten the old order.

The financial services technology company FIS has agreed to buy Worldpay. The deal is valued at $43 billion and will allow FIS to counter the transaction processing scale Fiserv received when it acquired First Data this year. The merger price is based on a $34 billion bid plus $9 billion of Worldpay's debt.

An overwhelming amount of transactions can cause noncompliant payments to fall through cracks. New technology such as AI can be helpful, says Josephine McCann, a senior marketing associate at AppZen.

Nacha's request to the Fed to extend submission times for its Same-Day ACH network was far from routine for two organizations that had worked together for decades.

The new U.S. Faster Payments Council states a clear mission — to promote faster payments in the U.S. But this new entity could butt heads with the Federal Reserve if it thinks the Fed isn't moving fast enough.

Payments software provider SpotOn Transact is partnering with terminal maker Poynt to provide loyalty, marketing and point-of-sale services in a new terminal for small and medium-size businesses.

In addition to conducting monetary policy and regulating banks, that the EU’s central bank should try to “drive innovation” in payments, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

The days of odd emails are gone. Phishing has become a complex big business for crooks, according to Rafael Lourenco, an executive vice president at ClearSale.