Payments

This week in banking news: Discover EVP Diane Offereins is retiring, Worldline enters the metaverse, SNAP pilots mobile payments and more.

Founders are starting to worry about whether startups will be able to keep paying employees following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.

Brett Mooney returns to the card network as the country manager for Canada, a digital-forward market that is attracting more competition from banks and fintechs.

The major payment card networks are "pausing" the rollout of a new merchant category code to identify purchases at stores that sell guns and ammunition, following pushback from lawmakers in Florida and elsewhere.

The card network is examining how to make incentives more personal by using advanced technology to sift through a trove of consumer spending data.

The pandemic's push to expand contactless mass-transit payments has produced a 120% increase in Discover's transit transactions since 2020 as more commuters opt for the pay-as-you-go approach versus prepaying.

The bank has agreed to acquire Big Data Healthcare, a Texan fintech that automates commercial payments flowing to and from hospitals and medical groups. It's the latest example of banks' deepening health care investments.

PayPal said Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen will step down following a leave of absence for health reasons, amid a shuffle of upper management at the online-payments platform.

This week's global news roundup includes Apple Pay securing a lingering holdout; a CBDC project that targets FX rates, and more.

Walmart sees great opportunities for its PhonePe unit, particularly in how it can boost Cashi, which the retail giant operates in Mexico.