Payments

Pay by Bank, an app developed in recent months by Mastercard’s Vocalink unit, is expanding as Germany’s Wirecard makes the service available to all of its U.K. merchants.

The move will impact more than 800 credit unions.

As Mastercard, Discover and American Express all plan to drop signature authentication at the point of sale, Visa is largely mum on the topic. But does it really need to weigh in?

Some firms are investing in technology to help insurance clients shift to paperless payment processing.

E-commerce giant Magento Commerce has introduced Instant Purchase for its merchants, leveraging retail giant Amazon’s 1-Click checkout process after the patent recently expired.

Due to new and advanced analytical and analysis practices such as shopping behavior analysis, customer data, including credit card info, now travels to different teams within the organization, multiplying the opportunities for data leakage and exposure, writes Yo Delmar, vice president of GRC Solutions at MetricStream.

Financial technology companies are reinventing every aspect of business finance, starting with payments. Banks have long promised to automate supplier payments for their customers, but have fallen far short, writes Brent Meyers, vice president of national sales for Nvoicepay.

In a year of political upheaval and weak commercial credit growth, lenders sought to capitalize on an economic bright spot — consumer spending — by reviving the personal loan, allying with fintechs and exiting traditional business lines that no longer made sense.

Judopay, a London-based startup enabling merchants to accept mobile payments through a turnkey process, has formed a partnership with Visa’s CyberSource unit to extend the startup’s reach to international customers.

Target Corp. agreed to purchase grocery-delivery startup Shipt Inc. for $550 million, stepping up efforts to challenge Amazon.com Inc. in e-commerce orders.

The case for real-time payments isn’t just about instant gratification. Truncating settlement times has enormous benefits to FIs, businesses and even governments.

The long-running slide in mortgage payments 60 or more days past due will continue next year, and perhaps even longer as borrowers benefit from favorable economic conditions.

As the reigning technology giants demand consumers do everything through voice-controlled smart speakers, they may inadvertently succeed where smartphone-based wallets stalled.

Financial services organizations increasingly need an unwavering commitment to customer experience in order to compete, or the competitor down the street will do it first, writes Chris Millner, a principal of financial technology and a payments consultant at North Highland.

Assemble allows Mastercard partners or issuers to provide checking, budgeting and payment features, as well as additional money management.

Banks and fintechs are competing heavily to modernize cross-border payments, and Citi is using its upgraded treasury unit to add speed to its own international cross-border digital payments capabilities in more than 60 countries.

While much has been said about the "total supply" of bitcoin as a fixed amount, the reality is that "hard forks" in the Bitcoin blockchain have eliminated this limit, writes Mariam Nishanian, a spokesperson for Dentacoin.

In a relationship-based business, it’s not enough to sell your customers a sharp tool to pay for things. You also have to help them avoid cutting themselves with it.

For merchants, a processor that’s a tad better, a bit more comprehensive, can make an enormous difference, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

It may not yet be apparent, but we are on the cusp of a seismic change in our relationship with the automobile. This change will have significant implications for stakeholders in the banking and payments landscape.