Why the UK Is Exploring Instant Payments
The Bank of England is pursuing a public consultation on consumer payments, focused on making it easier for shoppers to pay without using a debit or credit card. The process could pave the way for a UK-based instant payments system akin to Brazil’s Pix or India’s UPI. The announcement came during a speech by Sarah […]
India Considers Integrating UPI with Alipay+ for Cross-Border Payments
While some may associate Alipay with China’s tremendously popular super app, its sister platform, Alipay+, is a merchant gateway with a rapidly expanding international reach. As one of Ant International’s merchant platforms, Alipay+ played a crucial role in facilitating more than two billion cross-border payments last year, many of them originating in fast-growing markets like […]
What’s Driving the Rapid Growth in ACH Payments
The ACH Network is reliable and ubiquitous. And over the past year, it continued to realize strong growth, both in the volume of payments and overall dollar amount. In 2025, ACH Network payment volume increased by roughly 1.6 billion, reaching a total of 35.2 billion, or an average of 141 million payments per day. In […]
BRICS Puts Its Payment Rail on the Front Burner
The long-rumored BRICS payment system may finally be moving toward reality. A payment rail built on interoperable central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) has appeared on the agenda for the group’s summit to be held in India this summer, more than a decade after the idea was first floated. Attention has shifted away from a proposed […]
Equifax Launches Credit Abuse Risk Model to Detect First-Party Fraud
As one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States, Equifax has broad visibility into consumer credit behavior. In recent years, one notable trend has been the rise of first-party fraud, in which consumers knowingly exploit organizational policies for financial gain. First-party fraud, sometimes referred to as consumer-engaged fraud or friendly fraud, can […]
How Merchants Should Navigate the Rise of Agentic AI
As is typical with hot new developments in the payments industry, everyone is talking about agentic AI as if it appeared overnight—and everyone feels like they’re already behind the curve. The one group that doesn’t seem excited? Merchants. Much of the discussion has centered on the technology itself, not on how it will actually be […]
As Crypto Money Laundering Soars, Governments Seek Ways to Fight Back
Crypto money laundering has surged at a staggering pace, reaching at least $82 billion last year, up from just $10 billion in 2020. As crypto markets have become more liquid, laundering operations have grown more sophisticated and more brazen, operating openly across messaging platforms and blockchains while governments struggle to keep up. Much of the […]
Linking Payments Infrastructure Is a Key Component of India, EU Deal
After decades of discussions, India and the European Union have agreed to a landmark deal aimed at eliminating tariffs and taxes, integrating supply chains, and strengthening manufacturing capabilities across both regions. Financial services is a key pillar of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). As part of the deal, the two economies are working toward payments […]
Why the Future of Financial Fraud Prevention Is Passwordless
Fraud is evolving faster than ever, with AI-powered scams, deepfake-enabled identity theft, and a surge in account takeovers putting financial institutions on high alert and accountholders at risk. As the most visible safeguard of the past few decades, the humble password is coming under increasing scrutiny. In a PaymentsJournal podcast, Dr. Adam Lowe, Chief Product […]
After Retail Closures, Amazon Pivots on Just Walk Out Technology
Amazon is closing all 72 of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, shifting its focus to Whole Foods locations and grocery delivery from Amazon.com. But the company isn’t ready to walk away from the much-ballyhooed Just Walk Out technology that powered many of its retail experiments. Instead, Amazon plans to double down on marketing […]