Payments

Think of Western Union, and its yellow placard advertising an agent location comes to mind. It's a physical branding and marketing component that few money-transfer providers can match — but one that's of diminishing value in a digital world.

In its 10th year promoting an unofficial Chinese holiday celebrating singlehood, Alibaba’s online sales hit a record $30.8 billion (RMB213.5), exceeding last year’s record by 27 percent.

Taking a cue from his previous success in commercial cash checking services, Conext CEO Michael Casalini hopes a Venmo-style mobile app that supports a quick conversion of checks to digital money can attract small businesses.

The ploys vary widely—digital tracking, fee incentives and "coopetition"—but banks are turning up the volume on innovation to pry businesses away from checks and keep them from signing up with rival tech startups.

Users are not only more rational in their choice of card, but they are also investing time and effort to find ways to maximize their return from reward points, according to Simon-Kucher & Partners’ Wei Ke and Wenbo Li.

A new group aims to foster collaboration between fintechs and state and federal officials in the fight against crime — without hindering legitimate business innovation.

To make commercial cards more viable, stakeholders in the B2B payments ecosystem need to break down traditional constructs and dynamically price card transactions so that they complement the commercial relationship between buyers and supplier, according to Dean Leavitt, CEO of Boost Payment Systems.

The former Goldman CEO is said to be the unnamed executive at a meeting with Asian financier; the bank faces multibillion-dollar penalties in two countries.

Adapting to Chinese consumers’ expectations of mobile pay options can help international retailers remain relevant and competitive by offering an easy, smooth, and interactive customer experience, writes Franklin Chu, managing director for Azoya USA.

Will it be a bigfoot from Amazon, Google and Apple, or death by a thousand bites from niche rivals? Or can banks and credit unions rally and fend off the insurgents?

Intesa Sanpaolo will be testing a new biometric contactless Mastercard in Italy, leveraging technology from Sweden-based Fingerprints AB.

Right on the heels of securing a partnership with Amazon to benefit small business owners, American Express is launching a new Business Gold Card designed to reward spending in key categories and offer extra management tools.

Instead of focusing on static rewards, card issuers should focus on more proactive and data-driven “rewarding.” This is a profound shift from a transactional strategy to a relational one, writes Kevin Grieve, North America Payments Lead for Accenture.

Amazon’s dominance is in no danger, but the e-commerce giant is looking over its shoulder as Walmart and other retail powerhouses close in. The fourth quarter could be a tipping point for Amazon, which recently lowered its holiday sales growth forecast.

Will it be a bigfoot from Amazon, Google and Apple, or death by a thousand bites from niche rivals? Or can banks rally and fend off the insurgents?

During his time as U.S. attorney general, Jeff Sessions was an outspoken opponent of the legalization of cannabis sales. Now that Sessions has resigned, legal marijuana is poised to become a growth industry.

Kenyans using the M-Pesa wallet to make payments and receive funds can now send cross-border payments through a connection with Western Union's global platform.

After the retail giant filed an $800 million lawsuit against its former credit card partner, shares in Synchrony plunged. Now analysts fear its relationship with Sam’s Club may be in jeopardy.

The payments and financial services industry has enjoyed an unprecedented wave of invention, but the fruits of that labor are threatened by an ideologically driven political climate that complicates the evolution of global interoperable mobile-driven commerce.

There’s an argument to be made that those who have experienced bias—be they women or any other underrepresented group—are likely to have developed some distinctive qualities in response, writes Karla Friede, CEO of Nvoicepay.