Payment processing

Riding a technology wave that helps attract more customers and generate more revenue sounds appealing enough — but with contactless payments, there isn't always a clear upgrade path for stores that have relied on older terminals.

Swedish point of sale credit company Klarna put itself in the awkward position of apologizing and trying to explain marketing emails to surprised and angry consumers, a misstep for a firm whose credit card alternative has found major traction during 2020’s crises.

With accelerated demand for digital payments since the outbreak of COVID-19, merchants must adapt fast, says Stone's Augusto Lins.

In the two months since earned wage access (EWA) provider Immediate launched Visa Direct as a payment option, the near real-time method is already accounting for 50% of its payments.

The combination can address the different threats posed by money muling, which is on the rise with more people at home, says FICO's TJ Horan.

It's a perplexing problem for those developing and instituting Payment Card Industry data security standards: Even as threats rise, the number of organizations that fully comply continues to drop.

During this time of economic disruption that has deep implications for the corporate sector, financial institutions need to make AI a core part of their efforts to adjust to the new normal and take advantage of the enabling technologies that can propel adoption quickly, says Canonical's Kris Sharma.

Paytm’s decision to open its own app store after Google forced developers to use its billing system was a predictable move, as is the potential for fintechs to steal payment volume from the technology giants.

While validating the card itself can protect merchants from accepting fraudulent cards at the point of sale, it does not protect the actual data on the card itself from being intercepted in the POS device, says Bluefin's Rustin Miles.

The threat has been exacerbated during the pandemic, as shelter in place orders forced consumers inside and businesses to close their physical doors, while simultaneously opening online ones, says Sift's Kevin Lee.