Payment processing

With the USPS emerging as an election-year flashpoint, postal banking is an idea that could gain steam. But a number of proposals are out there, and they have wildly varying implications for financial inclusion.

Visa is readying its platform for major disruptions by adding artificial intelligence to its neural network so legitimate card transactions will be processed normally in case of a system outage.

Digital remittance provider WorldRemit has agreed to acquire Sendwave, a mobile app-based remittance company focused on servicing the African money transfer corridors.

If suppliers don’t get paid in a way that works well in their processes and systems, it causes many nightmares for their accounts receivable team. Those nightmares can spread throughout the organization, causing stress and frustration, says Nvoicepay's Josh Cyphers.

Citigroup’s $900 million payment blunder in a normally low-profile part of the financial market dominated by a handful of banks has experts wondering if regulators will uncover a deeper problem.

Afterpay has entered into an agreement with NBQ Corporate SLU to acquire Pagantis SAU and PMT Technology SLU for €50 million (about $59 million) to expand into France, Italy and Spain — a direct challenge to Klarna, one of the dominant European buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers.

Checkout-free retail is still not ready to move out of tiny spaces, though Amazon’s trying to accelerate progress through a trio of initiatives that have come to light over the past few weeks.

The company will offer retail installment loans up to $40,000 through a partnership with Mastercard's Vyze unit.

Advocates of allowing merchants to add a surcharge to defray the cost of credit card interchange have had to overcome network bureaucracy, state laws and even ingrained habits among the merchants themselves.

Extending more digital pay can help integrations with other functions such as enterprise resource planning, says Nvoicepay's Kristin Cardinali.