AWS Outage May Have Merchants Seeking Backup Elsewhere
Amazon Web Services has recovered from an outage that disrupted online activity worldwide for nearly a day, affecting businesses like Venmo and Coinbase to small merchants who rely on AWS for payment processing. After the third shutdown in five years, questions are mounting about how dependent businesses have become on the cloud computing giant. The […]
PNC Expands Real-Time Payments Footprint by Joining FedNow
FedNow has continued to expand its network of financial institutions since its launch two years ago, and now PNC Bank is joining the real-time payments system. The platform operated by the U.S. Federal Reserve now includes roughly 1,400 participating financial institutions. However, the addition of PNC is noteworthy—not only because the bank is one of […]
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Unwrapping 2025: Why Gift Cards Still Top Holiday Wish Lists
Celebrating the holidays is still a top priority for consumers, but several factors make this season unique. Shoppers are balancing tighter budgets, adapting to a rapidly evolving digital landscape, and carrying ever-higher expectations. At the same time, many employers are grappling with how best to show appreciation to their teams. In a recent PaymentsJournal webinar, […]
Lloyds Unveils Pay-by-Bank Kiosk for Hotels
In its ongoing efforts to make pay-by-bank systems more customer-friendly, Lloyds Bank is unveiling a kiosk that allows consumers to make payments at UK hotels. The system was developed in collaboration with Lolly, a hospitality technology specialist, and will be demonstrated at an Open Banking Expo in London. The kiosk allows customers to make direct […]
China Asks Tech Firms to Suspend Hong Kong Stablecoin Plans
Ant Group and JD.com, among others, had been gearing up to launch stablecoins in Hong Kong, but those plans are now on hold. The tech giants had intended to move forward after Hong Kong’s legislature passed a stablecoin bill in May. The framework governs fiat-backed stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong, requiring these companies to obtain […]
RTP Tops Single-Day Record with Over 1.8 Million Transactions
As U.S. real-time payments adoption accelerates, the RTP network set a new daily record on October 3, processing 1,808,967 transactions valued at $5.2 billion. Since its launch eight years ago by the Clearing House—a consortium of leading financial institutions—the RTP network has grown to become the largest instant payments system in the U.S. The platform […]
Amex Comes Out Strong in the Chase for the Luxury Card Space
As major issuers vie for the dominance in the premium credit card market, American Express appears to have pulled ahead, posting a standout third quarter fueled largely by its more affluent customers. The company reported a 16% increase in Q3 profits, despite heightened competition among luxury card offerings. The average spend per Amex cardholder rose […]
Rakuten Explores U.S. IPO for Its Growing Credit Card Business
Months after launching its first U.S. credit card, Rakuten is now considering an initial public offering for its credit card business. Best known for its online shopping platform, Rakuten operates one of the largest credit card programs in Japan, with more than 30 million cards issued. It entered the U.S. market with the Rakuten American […]
Square’s Platform Sees First Bitcoin Payment at Coffee Shop
A Compass Coffee location in Washington, D.C. became the first store to accept a bitcoin payment using Square’s new point-of-sale system. Square Bitcoin enables merchants to accept bitcoin payments with zero processing fees and also allows them to convert traditional card sales into bitcoin within the included wallet. Compass Coffee tested Square’s platform and successfully […]