VibePay is releasing its app on Google Play and the Apple App Store and calling for up to 100,000 new beta testers.

Traditional acquirers are under severe pressure from the digital payments revolution, challenged to hold onto clients by stitching together legacy systems, existing hardware, mobile, cloud and apps. Those that can harness innovation and find the right startup partners can not only stave off elimination, but drive the next generation of multi-channel shopping and transaction revenue.

A shifting fraud landscape and changing consumer expectations will play a part in how credit unions allocate resources toward technology in the new year, according to a prediction from the CUSO Member Driven Technologies.

The bank announced a $750 billion plan to “focus on climate transition and inclusive growth”; the seven biggest banks have passed three years in a row.

In the four years since Nets set up a laboratory at its Copenhagen headquarters to test new approaches to payments, it’s learned that consumer response to biometric payments technology such as finger-vein checkout is nearly impossible to predict.

Chris Maher, CEO of OceanFirst Financial, shares how employees’ roles have already changed and his bank’s efforts to help them navigate AI and other emerging technologies.

Payments messaging standards provider Swift has opened its global Know Your Customer registry to all the corporations it connects to following a successful test.

Financial regulators’ statement cautiously encouraging lenders to go beyond traditional underwriting in their lending decisions is a big step forward for the use of alternative data and artificial intelligence, bankers say.

Easy credit has given way to cautiousness, with financial technology upstarts now seeking households with higher incomes, above-average credit scores and less debt relative to their wages.

The startup with a namesake app is already attracting young investors and has been in talks with banks about partnerships.

Fintechs want access to customers’ financial data, but banks are resisting, on security concerns; Deutsche Bank may cut bonus pool 20% after 14% drop last year.

The age of PINs and passwords are sadly not yet gone, but new devices and digital services will need more advanced authentication, says Fingerprints' Maria Philstrom.

While the road to API connectivity has not been smooth, solid progress is being made in connecting banks to third parties, says Token's Todd Clyde.

Swedish payment provider Klarna Bank AB is preparing for a potential initial public offering in the next one or two years as the most valuable European fintech startup expands rapidly in the U.S.

The SoFi co-founder said Figure Technologies is working with national banks to employ its distributed ledger tech for loan originations.

Payment companies looking for relief from international political chaos got a moment of clarity in the form of a decisive U.K. election and nominal progress in the trade war.

The United States could be the point-of-sale lender's largest market within two years, its CEO says. The firm's investors include BlackRock, Sequoia Capital and the rapper Snoop Dogg.

Whether data leaks come from internal mistakes and exposures or from direct hacking, the outcome is the same. Data is exposed and cybercriminals are using it for fraud today, next year or several years from now, says NuData's Rosemary O'Neill.

In many ways, the payments industry resembles the health care business — pulled into the future by rapid digitization and conflict over the role of government.

More digital competition, tougher tech choices and a completely new generation of customers are just some of the challenges facing bankers in the near future.