With FedNow joining RTP in the race for real-time payments, a hugely practical service called request for payments could take off. If you’re not a payments geek, you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about when the Federal Reserve announced in July that its real-time payments …

Restaurant point-of-sale provider Snack POS has agreed to offer EMV terminals from Pax. Soundhound AI Inc., a specialist in artificial intelligence, said it will work with online-ordering platform ChowNow to help restaurants answer and respond to customer calls. Payments provider Nayax Ltd. is working with loyalty-technology platform Giift to enable consumers to convert loyalty …

Checkout provider Skipify said its technology is launching exclusively with American Express Co. to enable select cardholders to link to eligible AmEx cards to checkout with participating merchants. The integration means consumers will not need to manually enter their payment and billing details, which could help with merchant approval and conversion rates, …

The planned expansion of Amazon.com Inc.’s palm-reading point-of-sale technology to all of the company’s 515 U.S. Whole Foods stores, a move the online retailer announced late last week, could represent a major leap for an authentication method few if any other backers have tried. The technology, introduced three years ago …

From ordering and payments to reward redemption consumers want a simpler shopping experience, according to research from Fiserv Inc. To meet demand, merchants and restaurants should provide more omnichannel experiences, retailer apps, and embedded payment options that add value. Buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) is one way merchants …

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said informal discussions between Rohit Chopra, CFPB director, and Didier Reynders, commissioner for Justice and Consumer Protection of the European Commission, have started on a range of financial consumer protection matters, including the deployment of AI in decision making, BNPL products and their risks, consumer debt issues, …

Olo Inc., a software-as-a-service platform provider for restaurants, rolled out several enhancements, including the ability for customers to place orders and pay for them using the Olo Pay application at in-restaurant kiosks. Enabling in-restaurant payments at kiosks marks the first availability of card-present payment processing through Olo Pay. Olo developed …

The global digital gift card market is projected to reach $1.2 trillion in 2032, up from $310.1 billion in 2022, according to a report from market research firm Custom Market Insights. In 2023, CMI projects sales of digital gift cards will total $399 billion, a more than 28% year over …

Apple Inc. said it will file a renewed appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a 2021 case that invalidated Apple’s requirement that App Store businesses accept payments only through Apple’s platform. Keys App Inc., a platform provider for locksmiths, launched its Keys App to enable digital payments for services and …

The case for the Fed running digital dollars is at best unclear, at worst unwise. Like many central banks, the Federal Reserve has been studying, and socializing, the idea of issuing digital currency, which in some form might be held and used by individuals, firms, banks, and other central banks. …