Retailers

Former employees of the Austin-based City National Bank still recall the 1981 flood that deluged the city and Whole Foods, and they take pride in the lender's role in rescuing what was then a fledgling health food store.

Klarna is looking to get out of one of its key payments businesses after the financial technology giant found the unit created a conflict of interest with peers like Adyen or Stripe.

A $30 billion settlement between Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc. and retailers to cap credit-card swipe fees is likely to be rejected by a federal judge in Brooklyn, a setback in the two decade-long litigation.

Retailers like Walmart, Target and Dollar General are changing the ways they collect payments in person. This, in turn, could influence payment habits, but it is unlikely to slow the overall momentum of digital transactions.

National Australia Bank is adding a Pay By Bank option for near-instant payments, Italy is bringing open-loop payments to buses in Tuscany, and more.

Companies are taking vastly different approaches to how they implement generative AI, whether it's to empower employees or to overhaul the way they bring products to market.

A digital-payment trend that began during the COVID pandemic is being bolstered by features such as rewards and state ID storage.

As the Senate debates this year's defense spending package, analysts say the highly partisan politics of this Congress, as well as the banking industry's lobbying, make it difficult for Sen. Dick Durbin's, D-Ill., credit card legislation to slip through this round.

Two executives behind BMO's purchase of Bank of the West from BNP Paribas discuss how the deal happened and what comes next for BMO.

Supermarket chain Kroger refused to accept Apple Pay and similar options in stores for nine years. It's changed its mind — but Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe's remain holdouts.

Not every shopper wants to charge the same card every time — but many do. Retailers like Adorama and Nordstrom, and payment companies like PayPal, are digging into their data to determine when an invisible payment is the best option for a customer, and when it's a pain point.

The more that stores reinvent the physical point of sale — or remove it entirely — the more they gather insights that go beyond just the payment. This can be extremely valuable to retailers that know how to use this new information, particularly for targeted marketing.

Thieves are getting more organized and aggressive in how they steal from shelves to fund bigger schemes. Emerging checkout systems that track shoppers can deter some of this activity, but not enough to address the full scope of the risk.

The metaverse is already blurring the lines between physical and online commerce, and many retailers are profiting from it. Banks and payment companies can play an even bigger role by helping money move without friction.

Starbucks and Kroger have invested heavily in payment technology over the years to gain an edge over their competitors. Their newest systems are focused on shaving off valuable seconds at checkout.

Bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Reps. Lance Gooden of Texas and Peter Welch of Vermont would require large banks to support at least one network other than Visa or Mastercard. Banking industry groups argue that it would help big retailers at the expense of consumers.

The banks that own the peer-to-peer payment network are reportedly considering a retail launch that could fend off rival payment methods — or simply cannibalize the sizable revenue issuers get from credit and debit cards.

Acquiring the earned-wage-access firm and challenger bank would further efforts by the retailer and its partners to develop a "super app" featuring mobile financial tools.

The buy now/pay later craze already has retailers demanding lower fees, according to Klarna.

Though the retailer's threat to drop Visa in the U.K. appears to have subsided, companies like Clik2pay, Affirm and Curve have seized on an opportunity to advance account-to-account transactions, buy now/pay later and cryptocurrency.