Payments

From China to the Bahamas, central banks are rushing to create digital currencies that could be used for everything from attending the Olympics to helping the unbanked. Here are some notable initiatives.

Nearly 90% of central banks are considering or deploying digital currencies to speed transactions and reach underserved communities. But the larger the economy, the more difficult these projects are to implement.

The EMV specifications technology body has revised its requirements to ensure a consistent payment experience for cards, smartphones and wearables.

Allied Payment Network is linking to the digital banking platform of Tyfone for community banks and small businesses.

Users of the Goldman Sachs-issued card found themselves unable to make payments or view account details.

The store-branded credit card issuer is expanding from three sales divisions to five, a move that CEO Brian Doubles says will help by “aligning our organization for faster growth and execution.”

The central bank said the proposed measure governing transactions on FedNow — a real-time service expected to be available in 2023 — would be similar to the framework for the current Fedwire Funds Service.

Michael Moeser, senior analyst at PaymentsSource, talks to Atif Siddiqi, Founder and CEO of Branch, about the future of providing faster access to earned wages.

When people stopped using Wag's core business during the pandemic, the company added multiple technologies to allow it to sell pet food, offer digital training and provide other services. Those same upgrades will stay in place as former clients come back.

Ahead of its U.S. launch, the London-based payments card aggregator has raised $14 million from 12,000 individual investors that it hopes to convert to customers.

The technology giant is looking for a negotiator with experience in buy now/pay later, faster payments and cryptocurrency.

The bank anticipates strong demand from businesses that want to settle invoices faster. It also wants to get ahead of competition from fintechs offering similar services.

It's in financial institutions' best interest to treat increasingly popular cryptocurrency assets the same as other financial assets held by their customers. And regulators must foster a safe environment for these assets by focusing on real risks like money laundering and terrorism finance.

The companies are working to thwart abuse on the Honey platform, a deal-finding system that PayPal acquired in 2019.

The private-label card issuer says that, as merchants reopen, now is the time to realize the benefits of its 2020 acquisition of the buy now/pay later company Bread.

As stores that went online-only start to reopen their physical locations, JPMorgan Chase is looking to bolster its position among European merchants by adding software from ACI Worldwide that's designed to support payments across multiple channels.

The fintech, which is reportedly building a checking and savings account into its app, is using its banking charter to speed the development of new services as it races its rivals to deliver an all-in-one app.

More than 250 wholesale clients signed up with the Pittsburgh bank in the past year to use real-time payments for payroll, billing and supply chain management.

ISVs that optimize B2B payments within their software solutions stand to save the day for merchants who want to grow but feel hamstrung with their current solutions, Ashley Jones of Global Payments Integrated says.

The small merchants that migrated to digital during the pandemic focused heavily on web sales, with less emphasis on e-wallets for mobile.