Will Agentic Commerce Break Through Next Year?
After the initial buzz around agentic commerce, skeptics questioned whether artificial intelligence agents would ever gain real traction in retail. Yet developments suggest that hesitation may be premature. Most recently, Visa completed hundreds of AI-driven transactions in pilots of its Intelligent Commerce program and expects rapid consumer adoption of the technology. The goal of agentic […]
SoFi Unveils White-Label Stablecoin
SoFi is launching its own stablecoin, SoFiUSD, providing open access to its digital asset infrastructure. The offering will allow banks, fintechs, and enterprise partners to leverage SoFi’s operational framework to issue their own white-label stablecoins. The stablecoin is already in use for internal settlement activities, with a rollout to SoFi members expected in the coming […]
Why Walmart Is Taking the Lead Against the Visa and Mastercard Settlement
When the latest iteration of the settlement involving Visa, Mastercard, and various merchants was proposed in November, there was speculation that the deal could reshape the credit card rewards model. However, a group of retailers led by Walmart argued that the settlement doesn’t go far enough to create a meaningful impact for merchants. Under the […]
Google Pay Launches Its First Credit Card in India
Google Pay is launching a credit card in India, linked to the highly popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network. This co-branded card, Flex by Google Pay, could serve as a pilot for further global expansion. The digital card is issued through the Google Pay app and can be used both online and in physical […]
The Biggest Bottleneck in Commercial Banking? Onboarding
Digital banking has trained consumers to expect speed, simplicity, and instant results. Yet, when those same expectations reach the commercial side of the house, many financial institutions fall short—leaving business clients stuck in slow, manual onboarding journeys that drive up costs and frustration. In a recent PaymentsJournal podcast, Penny Townsend, Co-Founder and Chief Payments Officer […]
Are Consumers Paying with Cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency has been talked about as the future of money for more than a decade. But talk and everyday behavior are not the same thing. While headlines often focus on price swings and speculation, a quieter question matters more for payments: are consumers actually using crypto to pay for things? Don’t miss another episode of […]
PayPal Seeks Bank Charter to Take Small Business Lending In-House
PayPal has filed an application for a bank charter to expand and strengthen its lending services to small businesses. The application has been submitted to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the FDIC to establish PayPal Bank, which would be chartered in Utah. To date, PayPal has extended more than $30 billion in loans […]
Trouble at Home: A Second Flop in Credit Card Rewards
There is nothing wrong with a good failure, provided you protect your investors and learn a lesson. Here’s one for the books: co-brands sounded like a winner in shelter products, but one of the best credit card lenders couldn’t build a successful model with renters, and another fintech that tried to address the homeowners market […]
EU Payments Fraud Rises Despite Effective Authentication Measures
The revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2) was designed to facilitate open banking in the European Union while also providing consumers with protections in the new digital payments paradigm. Although these measures have largely achieved their objectives, the evolving fraud threat has continued to drive losses. A joint study by the European Banking Authority (EBA) and […]
Visa’s Stablecoin Advisory Practice Aims to Open Up the Market
With its own stablecoin business gaining momentum, Visa is launching a new advisory service aimed at helping banks, credit unions, and other enterprises implement their own stablecoin strategies. Housed within Visa Consulting & Analytics, the Stablecoin Advisory Practice will offer training, market analysis, strategy development, use-case sizing, and technical support for organizations looking to explore […]