Real-time payments

As the Federal Reserve guides the U.S. on its steady march toward a faster payments system, a thorny issue continues to plague some of the most prominent efforts: Could the smaller banks stay abreast of the technologies that larger banks are readily supporting and deploying?

Companies that rely on contract work also depend on diversifying revenue streams, a cycle that will repeatedly place fresh stress on an already complicated payroll system.

How banks and network providers combat real-time payment fraud; online banks try new pricing strategies; the Most Powerful Women in Banking call for greater leadership diversity; and more from this week's most-read stories.

For bankers and network providers, it’s a given that moving to a real-time payment system like Zelle will lead to an increase in fraud attempts. Here's a look at the ways they're fighting back.

Visa is working with the on-demand delivery network Postmates to deliver real time payments through Stripe’s Instant Payouts feature, running on its push payment platform, Visa Direct.

The payments industry is engaged in 40 active real-time payments programs worldwide, but it's not as chaotic as it sounds — except in the U.S.

More than half of U.S. financial institutions have made same-day ACH funds available without seeing any major shifts in fraud. But observers warn that as same-day ACH introduces broader access and bigger transactions, it will become a bigger temptation for fraudsters.

Uber’s corporate existence has jumped from one PR crisis to another, but the company has always been lauded for how seamlessly it handles payments. Until now.

Each major disaster is a real-world testing ground for payments technology, but it can also be a stark reminder of the limits of these advancements.

New architecture for real-time payments went live in recent months in key global markets, expanding B2B payment options for financial institutions and their corporate customers.