After more than 18 months of pandemic, are you on the road to normal? In this, our annual catalog of woes and worries, we shine the spotlight on that road’s biggest potholes. Well, nobody signed up for this, right? More than a year-and-a-half after what had been a booming economy …

With its launch on Thursday of a digital checking account for business and an associated debit card, American Express Co. could be poised to shake up the payments business in ways not seen before, observers say. “This announcement represents the greatest threat to financial institutions who are competing for the …

Mastercard reported a strong third quarter on Thursday as it builds out the foundations for a near-term future in which it sees itself playing a central role in new transaction flows involving account-to-account (A2A) transfers and digital-currency payments. Mastercard has been laying the groundwork for A2A business for at least …

The rapidly unfolding buy now, pay later business holds huge potential for point-of-sale lenders but flashes caution signs for players that jump in without doing their homework, a panel of experts said Tuesday at the Money 20/20 exposition in Las Vegas. The BNPL product, which generally allows shoppers to pay …

Perhaps the most significant fintech trend is the convergence of ISOs and software developers. Both have much to gain by adding the value provided by the other. Over the past decade, we’ve watched as the worlds of payments and software became intertwined. Recently the lines between both worlds have blurred …

ZmBIZI LLC released its Z2 smart phone that accepts tap-and-pay transactions without requiring an external POS terminal. The $550 smart phone was part of a Visa Tap to Phone test earlier this year and is expected to have full commercial availability in early 2022.Visa Inc.’s U.S. Spending Momentum Index fell for the second consecutive month, …

Will a debit card be coming soon from Affirm Inc.? A new card product that taps the user’s checking account for in-full purchases or installments is in beta testing with “several hundred people,” at buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Holdings Inc., the company’s chief executive, Max Levchin, told equity …

Financial-services firms, and fintechs particularly, have been swamped with account-takeover attacks over the past year, leaving many consumers wary of visiting these sites, according to a report issued Thursday by Sift Science Inc. Indeed, the volume of account-takeover attacks overall more than tripled between the second quarter of 2019 and …

A new card product that taps the user’s checking account for in-full purchases or installments is in beta testing with “several hundred people,” at buy now, pay later specialist Affirm Holdings Inc., the company’s chief executive, Max Levchin, told equity analysts late Thursday during a session to discuss the company’s …

Mastercard Inc. strengthened its hand in open banking on Monday, reaching an agreement to acquire European open-banking platform provider Aiia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to strengthen Mastercard’s position as a provider of open-banking services in Europe. Mastercard established a presence in the business …