From Reaction to Prevention: Rethinking Payment Fraud
From Reaction to Prevention: Rethinking Payment Fraud With the advent of faster payments, many financial organizations have prioritized speed over fraud detection. Consumers expect instant transactions, but banks must still protect themselves and their customers from fraud. Running fraud detection in the background—analyzing contextual signals and historical data—helps strike the right balance between speed and […]
Kraken’s Master Account Approval Is a Watershed Moment for Crypto
The idea of a limited-scope, or “skinny,” master account for fintechs has gone from abstraction to reality in just a few short months. In October, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller proposed a model that would allow fintechs to directly access certain services from the central bank. Until now, many of these companies have relied on […]
Stripe Brings Agentic AI to BNPL Loans
Two of the most consequential trends in payments are converging as Affirm and Klarna begin working with Stripe to allow AI agents to initiate buy now, pay later purchases. The integration relies on Stripe’s Shared Payment Tokens, which enable AI-assisted shopping without exposing sensitive payment credentials. In a blog post, Viraj Gupta, Product Manager for […]
Returns, Disputes, and the Rise of First-Party Fraud
At first glance, it looks like a simple return or a routine dispute. But behind many of these transactions is a growing problem often mischaracterized as friendly fraud—a form of first-party fraud that costs organizations significantly and is increasingly normalized by consumers. Although it has sometimes been called friendly fraud, there is nothing benign about […]
Stablecoins Power Philippines’ Thriving Gig Economy
Over a quarter of the U.S. workforce now participates in the gig economy in some capacity. As these platforms have grown, payouts have become a central operational concern: timely, reliable payments are essential to attracting and retaining freelancers and gig workers. The Philippines is experiencing a similar shift, with nearly a quarter of employed workers […]
Capital One Starts Migrating Core Cards to Discover Network
Capital One is beginning to unveil its playbook for the Discover integration, with some of its core credit cards now being issued on the acquired network. Updated benefits guides, first reported by The Street, show that new customers will receive Capital One-branded cards such as Savor, Quicksilver, and VentureOne on the Discover rails. Existing cardholders […]
From Theory to Application: The Impending Transformation of Commercial Payments
Real-time payments have yet to become a true retail mainstay in the U.S., but trillions of dollars moved across the FedNow and RTP networks last year. Both networks recently increased their transaction limits to $10 million, dramatically expanding enterprise use cases. The growing adoption of real-time payments will meaningfully reshape the B2B payments landscape. But […]
Late Payments Sink Thousands of UK Businesses Each Year
Late payments are more than just a headache for businesses—they contribute to thousands of closures each year. Data from UK fintech Funding Circle estimates that roughly 14,000 businesses in the UK fail annually due to the knock-on effects of delayed payments—the equivalent of 38 closures every day. With around 280,000 businesses shutting down in the […]
Santander and Mastercard Pilot Agentic Commerce
An AI agent recently bought a T-shirt—an unassuming purchase that nonetheless marks two milestones for agentic commerce. First, the transaction took place in Spain, making it Europe’s first fully agentic payment. Second, it was processed by Banco Santander, the first time an agentic commerce transaction has been executed within a regulated banking environment. The trial, […]
ACH and the Path Toward Future-Ready Payments
ACH is a critical part of the U.S. payment infrastructure, driving a significant portion of transaction volumes and supporting important use cases such as supplier payments, payroll, and many others. Despite competition from newer rails that serve similar purposes, ACH continues to grow at a remarkable pace. In a PaymentsJournal Podcast, Radha Suvarna, Chief Product […]