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 […]
How Layer 1 Networks Could Transform Stablecoin Transactions
The new Layer 1 networks being rolled out by organizations like Stripe and Circle are the first blockchain networks that settle natively on stablecoins rather than cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or ether. They remove the need for entities to hold a volatile token to pay for blockchain transfers, and this could have a huge impact on […]
Visa Aims to Safeguard Agentic Commerce Transactions
As artificial intelligence plays a growing role in purchasing decisions, Visa is launching its Trusted Agent protocol to give merchants more visibility into the process. In the emerging agentic commerce environment, merchants will need the ability to screen AI agents and filter out bots and bad actors. Visa’s platform was developed to enable exactly that—using […]
Merchants Look to Monetize Payments Amid Rising Costs
In a challenging economic climate, more merchants are turning to their payments providers for guidance on how to better monetize their payment operations. Many are also exploring ways to lower costs by encouraging customers to use cash or debit cards instead of credit. Nearly half of the merchants surveyed by Wind River report that their […]
Making Cross-Border Payments Work at Smaller FIs—as Originating Institutions or Correspondent Banks
For decades, typically large regional or money center banks served as correspondent banks that enabled smaller banks to offer cross-border payments. It was rare for credit unions, community banks, and other smaller financial institutions to offer cross-border payments. And if they did, it was a money-losing proposition, offered out of necessity to prevent their customers […]