Payments

The account-to-account payment method has become prevalent in countries such as China, India and Brazil, but adoption has been slow in the U.S. and limited to small- and medium-sized businesses. That paradigm is expected to shift amid continued fintech investment.

Countries around the world have lots of incentives to build an alternative to the U.S.-centric global payments system using central bank digital currencies. The U.S. must get in the game or see its economic might begin to wane.

In a collaboration with Coinbase and Flexa, Regal theaters now accept on-chain U.S. digital currency payments for movie tickets and concessions; the Bank of Nova Scotia has completed its second investment in KeyCorp; Fiserv entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian-based payments fintech Payfare; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Improved consumer confidence helped to drive greater use of buy now/pay later as younger generations turned to short-term installment options.

From embedded finance to artificial intelligence to real-time processing, there are plenty of sources of competition and opportunity in the new year.

The emerging industry could be worth as much as $480 billion in two years, and payments are central to that growth.

BNY announced expanded employee benefits and a boost in its minimum wage for all U.S.-based employees; Synovus has added former FIS executive Greg Montana to its executive board; National Bank Holdings sold off a fifth of its securities portfolio; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

The Capital One-Discover merger, the war against Visa and Mastercards' swipe fees and budding payment technologies were most popular with American Banker readers in 2024.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued three of the largest U.S. banks for fraud perpetrated on the bank-owned payment network Zelle, alleging shoddy safeguards and millions in consumer losses.