Payments

Earthport Plc investors, who saw their shares drop 70 percent in three years as the payments firm lost customers and management, now have an offer to cash out with a 300 percent premium. But not all of them are happy about it.

Mastercard has named Donald Chesnut as the company’s chief experience officer to help drive a clear and consistent experience for Mastercard’s various audiences.

Sell-offs are happening all over, bitcoin has shown strength in the past and is attracting partnerships, argues Ken Gary, vice president of corporate strategy and development at Stafford Communications.

Banks and payment companies are already comfortable using artificial intelligence to guard against fraud. The tech could soon be just as welcome in creating payment products and matching them to potential customers.

The payments process isn’t about just checking a box or signing a check anymore; it’s about cultivating genuinely beneficial relationships for all involved that build trust and drive growth, writes Ravi Thakur, senior vice president of business acceleration at Coupa.

Banks, retailers and technology companies have spent years relentlessly working to replace cash with plastic, digital or mobile alternatives. And cash has hit back hard.

The bank will pay over $15 million in restitution and fines to settle claims that it neglected stop-payment requests and reopened deposit accounts without customers' consent.

Citi wants to attract credit card customers who use its card for staples such as groceries and gas — a pivot from its past of marketing to the social butterflies who would use its cards on dining and entertainment.

Leveraging the trust relationship the bank already enjoys with its customers, based on robust security, engagements can go beyond run-of-the-mill transactions, writes Sherif Samy, senior vice president of North America at Entersekt.

By adopting faster payments, businesses have more flexibility to make last-minute payments and emergency payrolls, or gain a larger window for early-payment discounts.

Facebook’s WhatsApp unit has been testing its payments app in India since May; investors price in an almost a 90% probability of no Fed hikes this year.

A partnership between the mobile carrier and BankMobile could help stripped-down banking and deposit transfer services find a footing among U.S. customers.

London-based Vegannection has launched a prepaid card for vegans that’s accepted only at merchants that pass its standards test.

Samsung is exploring the development of a smartphone-based cryptocurrency wallet, according to a recent patent application the electronics giant filed in the U.K.

Nearly a year after Chinese phone maker Huawei announced plans to expand Huawei Pay internationally, the mobile payment service has gone live in Russia, its first foreign market.

The crypto market has typically been viewed as too risky to make insurance viable, but there are ways to enhance risk management, says BlockRe’s Raymond Zenkich.

As consumers grow more attached to mobile devices for e-commerce and payments, fraudsters are intensifying their focus on handsets with new phishing, vishing to SIM-swap tricks.

Blockchain technology will allow players to purchase items or games faster, while ensuring their payments are secure, according to Nicolas Gilot, co-CEO of Ultra.

As 2018 draws to a close, here's one more look at some of the year's most interesting stories and a glance at what 2019 may have in store for credit unions.

The National Bank of Kuwait is leveraging Ripple’s blockchain technology for a new cross-border payments service.