Payments

The coronavirus stimulus package has resurrected calls for the U.S. government to offer a central bank digital currency, public mobile wallets and postal banking—controversial ideas that are hard to pull off, but exist outside the U.S. and could dent interchange fees and private stablecoin projects like Facebook’s Libra.

The legislation sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, would require banks to offer the accounts so that consumers could easily access cornonavirus relief funds without turning to high-cost check cashers.

While financial institutions are encouraging customers to use their digital banking services rather than the branch or ATMs during the outbreak, attackers will also be looking to exploit this potential increased adoption of mobile banking and mobile payment apps, says OneSpan's Sam Bakken.

Britons stuck at home due to the coronavirus outbreak are hitting the online casinos, providing a boost for operators of virtual games such as blackjack and roulette.

As coronavirus forces most shopping to occur online, merchants will likely see their product return policies tested by both good customers and the unsavory ones who abuse those policies for profit.

Growing recognition that coronavirus can survive on hard surfaces for up to 72 hours — making it riskier to use PIN pads and touchscreens at the point of sale — is causing merchants around the world to rethink payment technology, especially at supermarkets.

To get permission to leave China’s coronavirus epicenter and return to his job in Hong Kong, a Chinese banker needed two things: a letter from his company and a green health code from Alipay.

Today’s consumers increasingly live in a world of customization, and their expectations mirror the need for a seamless consumer experience that addresses their personal preferences, says Envestnet/Yodlee's Brandon Rembe.

Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and banks that issue credit cards went on high alert Wednesday when the National Restaurant Association asked President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to cut the so-called swipe fees incurred every time a customer pays with plastic.

Even for companies that support remote work, having an entire staff working from home on short notice opens new complications for B2B payments and accounts receivable.

The most innovative fintech solution may be debit, which is already integrated into digital-first experiences in a way that’s fresh and exciting for the consumer, says Meta Financial Group's Matt Withey.

Over the past year, buy now, pay later schemes have risen to become the trendiest method of retail payments in the U.K.

Over the next few weeks, U.S. businesses with online platforms might be tempted to relax fraud controls to free up potential friction – they shouldn’t. It could mean major fraud hits.

Payments technology provider Fiserv is acquiring independent software vendor Bypass Mobile to boost its multi-channel capabilities for sports, entertainment and restaurant verticals.

It’s a rare occurrence for a business to receive a huge business spike while also shutting parts of the operation, but that’s where the coronavirus has landed Farmstead.

Big data graph analytics allow you to “drill down” into complex interrelationships among organizations, people and transactions, says TigerGraph's Todd Blaschka.

While much of the digital world experienced a surge in usage during the coronavirus outbreak in China, one sector took an unexpected hit: Online payments.

With coronavirus taking a significant chunk out of physical retail and services, the use of call centers and phone interaction with customers becomes even more important.

Heritage financial institutions that don’t support emerging embedded payments and banking risk further erosion of younger cohorts and losing material franchise value to fintechs, challenger or neo-banks equipped to originate and service accounts at the edge of partner networks, say payment consultants Richard Crone and Heidi Liebenguth.

TransferWise has partnered with Alipay to expand money remittance options for its users to instantly send Chinese yuan to friends and family in China.