Payments

The more that stores reinvent the physical point of sale — or remove it entirely — the more they gather insights that go beyond just the payment. This can be extremely valuable to retailers that know how to use this new information, particularly for targeted marketing.

More than half of all cross-border payment fees are concealed in exchange rate markups that few consumers understand.

A new paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston finds Blacks and low-income consumers absorb a larger share of bank account and credit card fees than other groups.

Banks worried about similar attacks against their own customers can use multifactor authentication and suspicious login detection to reduce risk.

Citizens snags exclusive Mastercard deal, Green Dot's e-bill-pay expansion and more in banking news this week.

Thieves are getting more organized and aggressive in how they steal from shelves to fund bigger schemes. Emerging checkout systems that track shoppers can deter some of this activity, but not enough to address the full scope of the risk.

Discover Financial Services posted a healthy fourth-quarter increase in card spending and lending, but analysts raised concerns about a sharp rise in credit account charge-offs that's likely to continue into 2024.

The metaverse is already blurring the lines between physical and online commerce, and many retailers are profiting from it. Banks and payment companies can play an even bigger role by helping money move without friction.

The digital card platform operator Marqeta is working with buy now/pay later provider Bread Financial on a pilot to instantly connect consumers' mobile wallets with merchants via the web, bypassing the need to download an app.

Starbucks and Kroger have invested heavily in payment technology over the years to gain an edge over their competitors. Their newest systems are focused on shaving off valuable seconds at checkout.