Payments

Billtrust has long relied on its sales force to approach businesses directly with accounts receivable technology, and it's turning to banks to automate more steps in the process of handling payments.

Credit card issuers have been trying to outdo each other to offer the best rewards program. And it shows, as customer satisfaction rates with many (but not all) of their banks have never been higher in a yearly J.D. Power study. But they may not last forever.

Credit card issuers are still targeting high-spending customers, who tend to be resilient to economic swings, but competition at the top is brutal and marketing costs are high. At the other end of the credit spectrum, it’s a different story.

Two of the biggest providers of cross-border tuition payment services for international education are targeting more than 5 million students preparing for college studies abroad this fall.

Auto, personal and credit card originations have fallen as delinquencies have risen, but researchers called the slowdown a temporary rebalancing by lenders.

Looking at the rise in issuers that support mobile wallets, one might think the concept has finally gone mainstream. But the actual usage numbers remain dismal, with few indications of what — if anything — will steer the market toward mobile payments.

While banks know they must develop and launch new tools that are useful, convenient and intuitive, figuring out which tools meet that objective and employing them often seems out of reach.

Using good, old-fashioned customer service and consultation to cut down on merchant attrition has been part of the acquiring playbook for years. But that playbook is long overdue for an update.

A bot-powered wave is on the way, and some firms will adapt, others will simply perish. It will be survival of the fittest, writes Beerud Sheth, founder and CEO of Gupshup.

Balances 90 days past due are noticeably higher in 2017, new N.Y. Fed data shows. Though the trend has a lot to do with positives like economic expansion and easier access to credit, officials say it deserves careful attention.

The latest class of the Commerce.Innovated accelerator program run by Silicon Valley Bank and First Data demonstrates a focus on changing industries in addition to streamlining how people pay.

First Data Corp. and JotForm are working together on an integration enabling brick-and-mortar merchants to collect payments online more easily, along with detailed information on forms such as electronic signatures.

Payments processor iPayment Inc. is getting back into the merchant cash advance business.

The real lag behind fintech started when banks rested on those online and mobile banking laurels and allowed other players in the mobile space to bypass them in working toward mobile point of sale payment services, writes Jack Jania, senior vice president of strategic payment alliances at Gemalto.

Mastercard and Visa have also opened development centers in India, where digital payments are growing quickly.

Chatbots are the next big thing in payments. But a poor in-chat commerce strategy can turn off consumers and create bad user experiences.

The Minneapolis retail big-box chain aims to enhance the efficiency and profitability of a web business that has suffered setbacks in recent years

After rising 73 percent in 2017, Alibaba shares trade at a multiple of 64 times earnings. Tencent is trading at 56 times profit after a 71 percent rise in its stock.

Companies involved in content sharing or social media are seeing fraudsters try to create new accounts for their sites with fake credentials through bot attacks.

The European directive is an opportunity for U.S. institutions to update data protection, writes Seth Ruden, senior fraud consultant for ACI Worldwide.