Payments

The card network is making new security tools part of its expansion into non-payment services, hoping it can combat fraud that comes from its own account holders.

A new product called Financial Connections links businesses directly to customers' banks, giving the payment technology vendor a feature that makes it a direct competitor to data-fueled fintechs.

Klarna will begin reporting the use of buy now/pay later products to U.K. credit reference agencies, which could see the increasingly popular mode of financing impact users' credit ratings.

Affirm Holdings, the buy now/pay later startup led by former PayPal Holdings co-founder Max Levchin, will be offering its services to Fiserv’s merchant clients as part of an agreement announced Wednesday.

In global news this week, Grab gets approval to offer digital banking in Malaysia; Italy's post office invests $27 million in a a buy now/pay later lender; Apple struggles to appease Dutch regulators; and more.

Representatives of the retailer community will face off against payment card network and bank executives over credit and debit card interchange during a Wednesday hearing to be chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin.

"Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution Apple Pay," Margrethe Vestagar of the European Commission said. It's an accusation Apple's fought many times across the globe.

About two dozen banks in the U.S. and Europe, including ABN Amro and Bank of America, are working with The Clearing House and EBA Clearing, using technology from SWIFT, to make instant international transactions ubiquitous for business and e-commerce sales.

10 things to know in April: Apple teams with Visa, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau examines payday lenders, and more.

The global microchip shortage is being exacerbated by Russia's war in Ukraine and the COVID lockdowns in China. Experts are warning of an impending strain on the manufacture of cards and point-of-sale hardware.