Payments

Here we take a data-driven journey into 2018 and some of the key trends that we’re likely to witness.

Credit card debt hit $807 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016, with consumer balances on average exceeding $4,800, according to a report released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

China's Ant Financial Group, the company behind Alipay, was among eight companies that EMV standards governing body EMVCo has named as technical associates to its secure-payment consortium.

TD Bank's new lab seeks to divine the future of banking.

Amazon dominates during the holiday shopping season because Prime offers customers benefits every day, writes Tom Caporaso, CEO of Clarus Commerce.

For all of the noise in the payments industry around transitioning to real-time and same-day digital payments — and in the mainstream media around the bitcoin craze — paper checks still persist as the preferred means of disbursement for the majority of business-to-business transactions.

With the increased demand for heightened security and the increased costs, there will also be a growth in attacks from nation-state actors, writes Antwayne Ford, president and CEO of Enlightened.

Both in dollar and transaction volume, credit card use is growing at a faster pace than debit use, but one industry group predicts that overall credit union lending could decline in 2018

Blockchain technology has uses beyond bitcoin, and many companies see merit in using it to handle cross-border payments. But blockchain isn't the only solution to the inefficiencies of international money movement.

Both in dollar and transaction volume, credit card use is growing at a faster pace than debit use. Much of the growth is coming from affluent consumers who value rewards like 2% cash back on purchases.

Major retailers accept bitcoin, and BitPay reports that it will process more than $1 billion in payments this year. Even McDonald's is reportedly considering that it will accept bitcoin payments, writes consultant Collin Canright.

Mobile wallets have always been a hard sell. In many countries, credit and debit cards work well enough that consumers don't want to learn a new way to pay. But banks and technology companies are committed to bringing their wallet apps to market. In an effort to stay competitive, these companies have spent considerable effort to get their wallets to stand out not only against competitors, but against the compelling option to keep using cash and cards.

Companies like Visa and Mastercard make decisions about security in secrecy, without enough input from banks and merchants.

Bank allegedly “seriously breached” anti-money laundering rules; mortgage agencies will be permitted to retain $3 billion capital buffer.

Bitcoin, the “gateway currency,” is but one application in an enormous pool of possibilities that blockchain technology presents, writes Alexander Koles, CEO and founder of Evolve Capital Partners.

Businesses should not only focus on securing payments that come through, but also pay attention to account creation and logins to prevent them from becoming additional vulnerable points of exploitation, writes Justin Lie, CEO of CashShield.

Consumers’ behavior around paying bills is often fluid and millennials put a high priority on paying bills immediately, which sometimes means with cash.

Alipay is chasing Chinese tourists to Japan, where it’s signing up a growing number of retailers and eyeing the long-term potential of the nation’s $45 billion digital payments market.

TransferTo and Cellum, a leading international mobile wallet provider, have formed a strategic partnership enabling Cellum to expand its services by leveraging TransferTo’s cross-border payments network.

Here we take a data-driven journey into 2018 and some of the key trends that we’re likely to witness.