Payments

Banks are taking hits in the stock market as they use 2024 to restructure balance sheets and inflation slightly increased in November.

Fast-growing innovation is sparking bullish sentiment following a boom-and-bust cycle of the past four years.

The account-to-account payment method has become prevalent in countries such as China, India and Brazil, but adoption has been slow in the U.S. and limited to small- and medium-sized businesses. That paradigm is expected to shift amid continued fintech investment.

Countries around the world have lots of incentives to build an alternative to the U.S.-centric global payments system using central bank digital currencies. The U.S. must get in the game or see its economic might begin to wane.

In a collaboration with Coinbase and Flexa, Regal theaters now accept on-chain U.S. digital currency payments for movie tickets and concessions; the Bank of Nova Scotia has completed its second investment in KeyCorp; Fiserv entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian-based payments fintech Payfare; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Improved consumer confidence helped to drive greater use of buy now/pay later as younger generations turned to short-term installment options.

From embedded finance to artificial intelligence to real-time processing, there are plenty of sources of competition and opportunity in the new year.

The emerging industry could be worth as much as $480 billion in two years, and payments are central to that growth.

BNY announced expanded employee benefits and a boost in its minimum wage for all U.S.-based employees; Synovus has added former FIS executive Greg Montana to its executive board; National Bank Holdings sold off a fifth of its securities portfolio; and more in this week's banking news roundup.