Payments

In global news this week, U.K. regulators safeguard cash, Mastercard's CEO weighs in on SWIFT, Deutsche Bank debuts real-time B2B payments, and more.

The payments company Stripe plans to give customers access to bitcoin four years after suspending support for the cryptocurrency.

The invasion drew unprecedented sanctions and withdrawals from dozens of powerful payment firms. The conflict demonstrates how a financial response can be as devastating as a military one — on both sides.

Here's what industry executives have stopped talking about — and what they're focused on today.

After lying low for a couple of years, wealthy consumers are poised to unleash nearly a quarter-trillion dollars in a card-spending binge that only a COVID-19 resurgence could derail, according to Visa's chief economist, Wayne Best.

People shouldn’t completely shun the crypto world after the recent collapse of a popular stablecoin, an official at the International Monetary Fund said Monday. 

The Swedish buy now/pay later company Klarna Bank saw its borrowing costs rise to their highest level on record as rising rates hit the company’s debt and equity valuation. 

For women, the path to leadership isn't always the same one that men take. Talus Pay CEO Kim Fitzsimmons says her career moved fastest whenever she refused to stay in her lane.

The retail chain is uniquely positioned to tie its growing slate of financial products to its customers' shopping needs, both in stores and digitally, said Julia Unger, Walmart's vice president of financial services, at American Banker's Payments Forum.

Strong spending trends, combined with a reduction in card repayment rates, contributed to 17% loan growth last month. The data suggests that rising fears of a recession aren’t yet changing consumers’ behavior.

A more active Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, competition from Big Tech and sanctions on Russia are combining to make compliance a much larger concern than in the past, according to legal experts who spoke at American Banker's Payments Forum.

In international news this week, BNP Paribas extends a credit line with green incentives to Ant Group; four NatWest bank units were penalized for overcharges on interchange fees; Experian agreed to buy a stake in a Brazilian fintech; and more.

Segpay's employees returned to their Florida desks nearly two years ago. Oregon-based Umpqua Bank has permanently adopted a hybrid approach. Both strategies are succeeding, executives at the companies say.

Mastercard has begun to trial a biometric payment system for brick-and-mortar stores, using facial recognition rather than contactless cards, smartphones or memorable PINs.

Consumers are still the driving force of payments innovation — even in business use cases, according to honorees from this year’s Most Influential Women in Payments who spoke at American Banker’s Payments Forum.

The point-of-sale lender is teaming up with Fiserv to streamline its onboarding process for merchants. It's part of Affirm's effort to differentiate itself as more banks and fintechs enter the highly competitive buy now/pay later market.

The BNPL fintech's new Debit+ card, which allows consumers to split purchases within 24 hours, is popular for buying food. Experts worry that this use case may prove more rotten than fruitful for lenders.

Paul Stoddart joins the U.K. company at a crucial time. A specialist in account-to-account transfers, GoCardless sees an opportunity to capitalize on friction over interchange rates.

The credit card provider is one of only a few fintechs around the world to have female CTO.

Star Alliance — the largest of the three global airline groups — is planning to offer a co-branded credit card that will allow cardholders to redeem points across all 26 members.