There are a lot of conflicting economic forecasts about what lies ahead for the rest of 2024. Of course, it is said that economic forecasting exists only to validate astrology, but two things are certain: increased global trade and shifting populations due to migrations by higher-income-seeking migrant labor. Both of …

Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, recently testified in Congress that China has cyber-penetrated the United States and that its embedded cyber weapons can be unleashed on the day hostilities break out. This is a sobering thought. Our entire life is cyber-managed: the way we distribute power, water, gas; …

As banks and merchants fight over interchange regulation in Washington, the real struggle is in shoppers’ wallets, phones, and Web browsers. Last month, I wrote about how merchants use discounts, surcharges, and direct bank payments to influence consumer behavior. This month, we’ll look at another tool that merchants can use …

The iPhone maker is known for its impeccable technology. What is less obvious is its nuanced but multipronged assault on the payments business. Ask anyone on the street what Apple Inc. does, and such is the company’s fame that even the least technology-inclined will respond immediately with examples like the …

AppBrilliance Inc., a provider of real-time payments technology, has partnered with Zoccam, a specialist in payments for the real-estate industry, to enable real-time payments for real-estate transactions. Zoccam will use AppBrilliance’s Money API to enable real-time transfers, such as earnest-money deposits, to be sent through The Clearing House Payment Co. …

Having completed on Feb. 1 a 55% spin-off of its massive Worldpay processing operation, FIS Inc. is now looking to concentrate on priorities including digital banking, real-time payments, and share buybacks, the company’s top executives said early Monday. Nor is the big Jacksonville, Fla.-based processor ignoring its potential gains from …

Shoppers financing purchases during 2023’s Black Friday weekend are paying off their loans sooner than they were a year ago. Some 30% of BNPL purchases made during that period in the United States were paid off early, compared to 24% a year earlier, according to BNPL provider Klarna AB. Overall, …

Block Inc. posted double-digit increases in net income for its December quarter and for 2023, but its co-founder and chief executive let it be known late Thursday the company has work to do. “Across the board, we’ve been going through an exercise in how we work so we can move …

Alphabet Inc. will discontinue Google Pay, including its peer-to-peer payments capability, in the U.S. market on June 4, though it will maintain a Google Pay website.  In the place of Google Pay, which launched amid much fanfare in 2011, Alphabet is promoting Google Wallet, which appeared in 2022 with wider functionality than payments, …

When it comes to online checkout, consumers like using digital wallets. Seventy-two percent of them value digital-payment tools like digital wallets to make the online checkout easier, says Paze in its inaugural Paze Pulse report. Paze is an upcoming digital wallet from Early Warning Services LLC. Backed by seven large …