Across the world, governments are cracking down on immigration. Cross-border payments, however, continue to grow with the global economy. Will blockchain be next? President Donald Trump has made cracking down on both illegal and legal immigration to the United States a showpiece, though controversial, policy of his administration. European countries, …

If understanding a problem is the first step toward a remedy, here are 10 first steps for the executives who must grapple with the complexities of payments every day. Well, here we are with our annual list of the 10 issues causing the most sleepless nights for payments executives these …

When it comes to faster payments, merchants don’t want to be left out, and that’s creating a big opportunity for payments processors and other merchant acquirers.  Indeed, as the payments industry shifts toward real-time and near-real-time money movement, processors can cash in on the value of getting good funds into …

Separating probable success from probable failure, in four handy rules. Every October, the payments hype machine goes wild. A variety of next-great-things are about to dominate headlines and conference agendas. Most will die off quickly, so here are four rules you can use to focus in the right places: Talk …

Through the years, the network game hasn’t changed. Payment systems need volume, and that means interoperability with other networks. The key is to be smart about it. The payments world is a patchwork of overlapping and interdependent networks. For success, networks need a path or paths to critical mass. For …

The major payments networks have been in the tokenization business for four years now. With digital payments set to explode, how long can they keep giving away the store? The technology for rendering card-account numbers into random strings of digits has been around for decades, but with the kickoff of …

The word “regulation” generates little enthusiasm in the merchant-acquiring industry, but it’s more palatable when “self” is the operative adjective rather than “government.” Thus, the Electronic Transactions Association is pushing its new Self-Regulation Program for acquirers, independent sales organizations, and payment facilitators. Launched early this month, the voluntary program requires …

Once a novelty, data-breach insurance has quickly become a must-have. It won’t offset all the expenses associated with a cyber attack, but it can ease a lot of pain. There is one inescapable truth for any company that handles consumer data: At some point, they will be targeted by hackers …

A divided Supreme Court says American Express Co.’s anti-steering rules for merchants don’t violate antitrust law. What does that mean for card payments, especially with another big card-related court case heading for a settlement? The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 decision upholding American Express Co.’s anti-steering rules for merchants has …

Vetting a new merchant takes a lot of work, but the plethora of nontraditional data may make it a little easier. How do you tell the difference between a bot applying for a merchant account and an actual human doing it? The answer might lie in social-media profiles and a …