February, 2023

• 1 February

  Faster Payments Demand Faster Action

  

  With major markets adopting real-time payments processing, U.S. banks that don’t act soon risk being left behind. All around the world, banks are making the move to real-time payments. Throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia, we’re seeing banking customers reap considerable benefits from being able to transact in real time. …

January, 2023

• 1 January

  Meeting the SWIFT Challenge

  

  Financial institutions that use the messaging network face a deadline for conversion to a new standard. Here’s one way to do that efficiently. SWIFT is used by banks around the world to securely send messages about money-transfer instructions. In fact, around $5 trillion a day passes through SWIFT’s messaging system. …
• 1 January

  The Self-Serve Future

  

  Vending, as well as unattended payments, is evolving into a more-encompassing retail setting and bringing digital payments along. Few merchant segments have been as well-suited to contactless payments as vending and unattended payments. And now, spurred by changing consumer habits during the pandemic, contactless payments are driving cashless payments in …

December, 2022

• 1 December

  Payment Card Routing Is All Politics

  

  The real winners from the Fed’s latest debit card routing rule aren’t the merchants. And they certainly aren’t the banks. Guess who? In the last decade, the flow of funds across debit card networks has curiously become a concern of Congress and the Federal Reserve.  It all began with the …

November, 2022

• 1 November

  Why the Metaverse Is the Next Big Opportunity

  

  With digital commerce showing huge potential, it’s time for payments players to take this virtual world seriously. Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), extended reality, mixed reality, Web 3.0, blockchain—all of these concepts have been lumped together into the term “metaverse.” And a lot of other terms …

July, 2022

• 1 July

  It’s Too Soon to Count Out Crypto

  

  Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have had a rough time in 2022, but a trend toward mainstream adoption is gaining momentum. Equities across the board, including Bitcoin, are massively down from their 2021 highs. Tech stocks, bonds, commodities—nothing seems safe from the current sentiment. But what does that mean for the …

June, 2022

• 1 June

  What U.S. Banks Need to Know About FedNow

  

  Questions abound about factors like adoption and technical requirements. But staying on the sidelines is not a wise option. Bringing the U.S. payments industry into line with that of other advanced economies such as the United Kingdom and Europe has been a priority for the Federal Reserve, and next year …
• 1 June

  How Fast Do Payments Have To Be?

  

  When it comes to real time or same day, there are advocates in each camp. But which option is better? The answer is far more nuanced than the question. For a number of years now, the payments industry has talked about so-called faster payments. But what does this term really …

April, 2022

• 1 April

  The Never-Ending War

  

  With rate increases expected this month, it’s time for the annual confrontation over interchange. Can this issuer-retailer argument ever be resolved? In the payments business, nothing gets the attention of the entire industry as effectively as the topic of fees. And no fee wins that attention as much as the …

December, 2021

• 1 December

  The Price of Stability

  

  And you thought stablecoins were all about ‘set it and forget it.’ Some—including the government—think otherwise. It is one of the ironies of the payments business these days that there seems to be little that’s stable about the news surrounding stablecoins. For a concept that came on the scene a …