Payments

Even early in the pandemic, it was apparent that acquirers needed digital onboarding, electronic payments and automated chargeback solutions to keep their footing in an acquiring landscape already facing disruption.

The Trump administration's cantankerous relationship with China has lasted the president's entire term, often shaking up the payments and financial services landscape. With a new executive order, Trump has announced bans on more than a half dozen software firms — including payment apps affiliated with Tencent and Alibaba/Ant Group.

The digital currency and related distributed-ledger technologies could "enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and stability of the provision of payments," according to an interpretive letter issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

2020 has shown that the payment industry is flexible and resilient, and if 2021 throws our plans out the window, we'd better be equipped to adapt on the fly, says IDEMIA's Megan Heinze.

American Express will once again add perks to its popular Platinum cards to avoid losing customers as the pandemic continues to curtail spending on the firm’s cards.

Divvy, the financial-technology company that offers corporate cards and expense-management software to small businesses, said it’s now valued at $1.6 billion after raising money from investors including PayPal Holdings Inc.

The year — and the coronavirus pandemic — caused a dramatic shift in attitude. Many consumers and merchants now saw contactless cards and mobile payments as a way to move ahead without the germ fears that come with touching cash and PIN pads. And even after those fears subsided, the new habits stuck around.

The pandemic may have served as a catalyst for rapid growth in contactless payments through wearable devices. It’s the combination of form and function, however, that will push wearable payments into further growth in 2021 and beyond, says Zeta's Bhavin Turakhia.

"The construction industry has been challenged by the pace of evolution and is still dominated by invoice and check payments," said Michael Praeger, CEO and co-founder of AvidXchange.

Billionaire Ant Group Co. co-founder Jack Ma skipped a recent taping of an African TV program he created, spurring speculation online about his whereabouts and the outcome of an investigation into his internet empire.

PayPal’s Venmo has launched a new “Cash a Check” feature on its mobile app to some customers. The offering is made in partnership with Ingo Money and its parent, First Century Bank.

The events of 2020 fueled new customer expectations, accelerated digital transformation and allowed B2B companies to react and deliver. But customers’ changing expectations are not going to disappear, says MSTS' Brandon Spear.

Card payments can't always cut it in different countries, says PPRO's Steve Villegas.

Finance teams can cut down their workload significantly and free up time to analyze data and make more strategic decisions towards improving customer experience and business growth, says RecVue's Amit Chaudhry.

As the pandemic accelerates a broad business shift away from cash payments, Pablo Martinez, marketing leader at startup Pay Theory, recalls hearing how his Puerto Rican father and Guatemalan mother struggled for years to enter the U.S. banking system.

When the Chinese banking authorities finish reshaping Jack Ma’s empire, the only thing he may have left is Alipay — which would still be the world’s most popular mobile and online payments app.

There's a wide open market with plenty of opportunity not just for challenger banks but for financial technology as an industry to set themselves apart from incumbents and gain market share, says Veem's Marwan Forzley.

Nearly 70% of consumers surveyed said they were confident in their ability to pay their full monthly statement in December, up 5 percentage points from November, according to monthly data from the online lending marketplace LendingTree.

Familiar with personalized offers and options from other industries, patients are tired of a one-size-fits-all payment model, says Visitpay's Kent Ivanoff.

The motivation behind JPMorgan Chase's purchase of rewards company cxLoyalty is clear — travel spending and rewards have suffered greatly during the pandemic — but another problem Chase is tackling with this acquisition is the need to wean people off cash rewards.