Payments

Credit card late fees are annoying, but that's why they work as a disincentive to prevent late payments. By making them much smaller, the CFPB will actually be working against the interests of low-income consumers.

Ant Group, the company behind Alipay, plans to set up independent boards for its international, database and digital technologies operations as it pushes forward the overhaul of its fintech business, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg.

The payments industry is evolving, driven by innovative technologies and a new class of leaders and executives eager to embrace change. Here's what they're prioritizing.

Despite fresh waves of online fraud and scams, czars of social media platforms, peer-to-peer networks and blockchain products have renewed ambitions to marry financial services with social apps.

Samsung and Curve are setting the groundwork for a return of smart rings and other devices that can turn top-of-wallet cards into a fashion accessory.

The pandemic reduced the number of daily mass-transit commuters, but the accompanying surge of contactless payments is expanding and diversifying transit systems' demographic reach, according to data from the card network.

The U.K. is considering a bill that would let banks and payment service providers put suspicious-looking peer-to-peer payments on hold for up to four days to conduct security reviews; Giesecke+Devrient is working with Brazil's central bank to develop an offline payment approach to a central bank digital currency; and more in global payments news this week.

Powered by its data-aggregation arm Finicity, Mastercard is piloting a service giving consumers an analytical view of all the subscriptions they routinely pay via credit, debit or ACH with options to cancel, pause or resume them.

TD Bank is among the latest to support Tap to Pay, which allows clients to accept contactless payments on their personal smartphones. Through its investment in Autobooks, it enables others to do the same.

PayPal expands Tap to Pay for iPhone payments; BNY Mellon's securities services leader exits; FleetCor rebrands as Corpay; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

In unrelated initiatives, the two companies are extending their use of open banking to create deeper client relationships.

Klarna in January had appointed a new executive from the venerable venture fund Sequoia Capital to the board: Matthew Miller. Within weeks, though, Miller was looking to make governance changes and sought to oust Klarna's longtime chairman — and former Sequoia heavyweight — Michael Moritz. 

To serve an increasingly online audience, POS Nation has acquired agriculture e-commerce platform GrazeCart, an example of vendors joining forces to adapt to shifts in the agriculture industry.

Monzo raises a $430 million investment to accelerate its expansion in the U.S.; Stripe adds support for Tap to Pay on iPhone; and more in this week's global payments news roundup.

Wells Fargo unveiled a new credit card and is bolstering how it rewards customers for their spending, crucial steps in Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf's mission to make the fourth-largest U.S. bank a bigger player in a space long dominated by rivals.

Brazil's Pix network, at just three years old, now accounts for 15% of all global real-time payments — and its success is inspiring projects in other countries.