Payments

Economic headwinds causing charge-offs and rising delinquencies — along with potential credit card late-fee restrictions — darken the company's 2024 forecast.

As new CEO Alex Chriss streamlines the payment company's strategy, 2024's first major product rollout stresses data-driven, personalized connections between merchants and consumers.

Barclays has redesigned the Cambridge Eagle Lab to focus on companies that develop sustainable and other environmentally focused technology, Vodafone expanded its partnership with global fintech MoneyHub to offer its financial wellness app, and more in this week's global news roundup.

In a bid to help phase out passwords, Mastercard is launching an authentication service that enables consumers to confirm their identities with fingerprint and facial recognition technology when signing in to accounts.

The credit card issuer said it's "cautiously optimistic" about its borrowers' financial health, with charge-offs expected to rise not much further than pre-pandemic levels. The upbeat outlook contrasts with a key competitor's guidance of significantly higher losses.

The digital financial services firm announced layoffs Tuesday, with the goal of keeping the company steady until conditions improve for its business users.

Fintechs' venture capital funding began to evaporate last year, while payments startups fared somewhat better by emphasizing quicker pathways to profits. It's a trend experts say is likely to persist this year as investors remain more cautious about costly or long-term plays.

Longtime executive Raymond Joabar discusses how the card network mixes direct outreach and fintech partnerships to build a global network covering the U.K., the Caribbean and other regions.

The technology company will allow outside processors, but plans to charge a commission. Epic Games vows to challenge the move in court.

Companies like NCR Voyix, Salesforce and Sainsbury's are keen to deploy technology that used to be science fiction — such as scanning a shopper's eyes to access their accounts, or using AI to streamline checkout.