Payments

Amazon casts a huge shadow over the retail industry, but it can be as much an inspiration as a threat.

The Reserve Bank of India will continue incentivizing merchants and consumers to move away from cash following last year’s demonetization of 80% of bills in circulation, including extending terms of a cash-back promotion for merchants.

Dubbed Intelligent Receivables and created in partnership with a fintech company called HighRadius, the service seeks to help companies match incoming payments with invoices.

Where existing money and payment systems are wanting, mutually consenting adults are resourceful in finding ways to transact, notwithstanding government restrictions.

As payments guru David Birch notes, multiple currencies spur competition and innovation, and can reduce stagnation, writes Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

Business customers are demanding technology that's as good as what they use in their personal lives.

Many retailers want to beat Amazon at its own game, providing fast and streamlined checkouts that attack the tedium of waiting in line or staring at a card terminal screen for further instructions.

Distribution methods are constantly changing and being altered so that the maximum amount of people can gain access to these unregulated currencies, writes Mariam Nishanian, a representative at Dentacoin.

Prodigy Finance, a London-based graduate student lender, gets $240 million in new funding round; Bitcoin Cash value soars.

Payments are getting more complex as business gets more global, adding channels and expanding ways to sell. Part of the strategy at the matchmaker crowdSPRING is to find a match of its own: AliExpress, Alibaba's online marketplace. It’s also considering a foray into virtual currency.

Removing friction across channels and payment types not only leads to a transformative digital banking experience, it also helps ensure those positive outcomes translate to business success for financial institutions, writes Mark Little, senior user experience researcher for digital channels at Fiserv.

On March 31, 2017. Dollars in thousands

For years, it looked to some like Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was simply following in the footsteps of Bezos’ Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest e-commerce company. But when Amazon’s $13.7 billion bid for Whole Foods Market Inc. sent shock waves across the retail industry, Ma looked prescient.

The simple act of moving money can have a big impact on any political movement, so banks and payment networks are often caught up in issues of national importance. Here are some recent instances where payments and politics came head-to-head.

Shopping cart technology, digital payments, advertising platforms and global order fulfillment allow new brands to compete on a global scale, writes Tony Holbrook, vice president of marketing and commerce at Ingram Micro Commerce & Fulfillment.

China's Alipay already has broad global reach—its mobile wallet is accepted at more than 100,000 retail locations in 70 international markets—but in North America it’s just getting started.

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.