Retailers

Artificial intelligence is steadily making its way through the payments and financial services world. The technology's usefulness for fraud detection is clear, but there are other areas where AI can have an impact.

It's well accepted that the earliest version of 3-D Secure was off-putting to merchants and consumers who didn't like how it added friction to the checkout process in the interest of online security. The new version of 3-D Secure wants to avoid the same pitfall, and merchants are cautiously optimistic.

Business still use lots of checks for payments. That may have worked in the past, but it likely won't work in an increasingly digital future.

As merchants seek out better ways to defend themselves from rampant online fraud, some are pinning their hopes on a recent upgrade to the card brands’ 3-D Secure Authentication technology.

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered closer scrutiny of a New York law that bars merchants from imposing surcharges on credit card purchases, giving a group of retailers a partial victory by saying the measure might violate their free-speech rights.

U.S. restaurants' EMV migration has lagged behind other retail categories for several reasons, including the hassles of replacing centralized payment systems with pay-at-the-table routines that chip cards often require. But another reason: Restaurateurs have other priorities.

Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to buy Dubai-based online retailer Souq.com, betting that e-commerce in the Middle East is poised to take off.

With AmazonFresh Pickup, a brick-and-mortar extension of its grocery delivery services, Amazon is edging further into the crowded grocery market with a model that downplays the process of wandering the aisles of a physical store. But unlike some of Amazon's other retail efforts, this one is not as big a departure as it first seems.

The business-to-business payments market is one of the laggards in transaction automation, and a reason often given is the lack of customization options. Businesses are using consumer-style technology for business purposes, and the fit isn't right.

Large merchants are re-energized in their conflict with Visa and Mastercard on the issue of swipe-fee costs, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to reinstate a class-action settlement that deeply divided many of the plaintiffs.