Know Your Agent: The Future of Trust in an AI-Driven World
WEBINAR Know Your Agent: The Future of Trust in an AI-Driven World June 17, 2026 1:00 pm EDT [contact-form-7] Is “Know Your Agent” the next framework for trust in the digital economy? AI-powered personal agents are quickly becoming a reality—managing payments, scheduling meetings, and making decisions on our behalf. As these autonomous systems become more […]
Tim Hortons Exits the Credit Card Business Again
For the second time in the past decade, the venerable Canadian multinational coffee chain Tim Hortons is getting out of the credit card business. The cards will still work after October 1, but they will be managed solely by the issuer, Canadian fintech Neo Financial. Once that change takes effect, card transactions will no longer […]
A Payments Power Block Is Forming Around Stablecoins
After years of building competing stablecoin strategies, some of the world’s largest financial services players are now exploring an unexpected move—joining forces on a single, unified platform. What would have once been a fragmented race toward proprietary solutions is beginning to look more coordinated. A collaboration among rival payments giants Visa and Mastercard alone would […]
Searching for Trust in Agentic Commerce
When an AI agent buys the wrong product—or makes a purchase no one explicitly approved—the fallout isn’t just a customer service issue. It’s a liability problem the payments ecosystem isn’t fully prepared to handle. In a PaymentsJournal Podcast, Jill Willard, CTO at IXOPAY, Rory Herriman, CTO and COO at Zip Co, and Christopher Miller, Lead […]
Illinois Swipe Fee Law Delayed for at Least Another Year
In a victory for banks and credit card companies, Illinois’ law aimed at ending credit card swipe fees on sales tax and tips has been delayed for another year. The Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which was passed in 2024, has been scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026. Under legislation approved by lawmakers this […]
Apple Wallet Adds Receipt-Based Bill Splitting
An upcoming update to Apple Wallet will allow iPhone users to take a photo of a receipt, divide items among friends and family, and create payment requests. In the case of a restaurant check, the new tool can calculate each diner’s share of the bill, including tax and tip. Once the amounts are determined, payment […]
Unsecured at Discover: Unraveling Secured Cards in the Capital One Era
There’s a place in payments for secured cards. They help credit-challenged consumers rebuild their credit by placing funds in escrow, which protects lenders from potential losses. Some issuers offer strong programs. Discover is one of the few issuers that provides a rewards program. Bank of America offers a great Small Business Secured card. KeyBank stands […]
Stablecoin Success Will Depend on More Than Technology
Aside from artificial intelligence, few innovations have dominated the financial services discussion in recent years as much as stablecoins. The benefits of these digital assets are no longer speculative; they have been demonstrated across a wide range of use cases in a thriving global market. This promise has made stablecoins highly attractive to financial institutions, […]
Mastercard Pilots Instant Cross-Border Payments and FX Settlement
As Mastercard explores new ways to make cross-border payments faster and more efficient, the company is testing an approach that could streamline both international transfers and foreign exchange settlement using Europe’s real-time payments infrastructure. The TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system is a trans-European platform that enables real-time payments in euros, Swedish kronor, and Danish […]
How Debit Card Users Subsidize Credit Card Rewards
Every swipe of a rewards credit card generates perks for the cardholder, but researchers say the costs of those rewards are shared more broadly. Data from Harvard Business School found that credit card interchange fees effectively transfer about $30 billion annually from consumers who pay with cash and debit cards to those who use rewards […]