Payment processing

Under the Australian government’s direction, the country is implementing an open banking plan — but it's not going as far as the U.K. and EU have.

The payment landscape is highly regional, based on historic, economic, technical and political factors. Top payment methods in Europe, or even Southeast Asia, are generally unheard of in many other parts of the world, according to Steve Villegas, vice president of partner management for PPRO.

Amazon Prime Day is a marketing "holiday" that aims to expand Amazon Prime membership, a $119 subscription that's a major part of Amazon's marketing strategy at its core site and Whole Foods.

Worldpay and Mastercard have formed a global strategic partnership, expanding the ways consumers and merchants connect for online and in-app payments via Mastercard’s Vocalink business.

The biggest Nordic banks expect to launch a new piece of financial infrastructure next year, promising to dramatically speed up international transfers in one of the world’s most technologically advanced regions.

If fintechs can prove effective at overcoming fraud challenges as they scale their customer base, they’ll be able to better capitalize on their unique position of operating independent of legacy platforms as they create a more financially connected consumer experience, writes Dave Excell, founder and CTO of Featurespace.

Mastercard has become the latest major card network to suffer a high profile crash. With its Thursday incident coming hard on the heels of Visa’s crash last month many experts wonder if blockchain technology could prevent future card network outages.

The department of Transport for the West Midlands is looking at how to provide a smart ticketing system to ensure that contactless card users get the best rate on a journey.

The change in store card branding would be a big blow to Synchrony; “equivalence” with EU rules “falls far short” of U.S. banks’ hopes.

The Canadian government is consulting with the country’s banking industry on opening up Canada’s payments infrastructure to nonbank payment service providers and fintechs, in a far-reaching move to spur innovation and competition.