The use of chatbots in financial services is about to explode, if research released this week is any indication. Adoption will be such that the technology will save banks worldwide $7.3 billion in annual operating costs by 2023, compared to a projected $209 million this year, estimates Juniper Research in …

Same-day automated clearing house transactions more than doubled in 2018 and the value of those payments increased 83% in the first full year of same-day ACH debit service, NACHA reported Tuesday. The same-day volumes helped the sprawling ACH network continue its growth streak, with total payments up nearly 7% and …

Apple Pay adoption show no signs of abating, with an estimated 43% of iPhone users across the globe enabling the mobile-payments service, says Loup Ventures LLC in a research note released Tuesday. That’s up from 36% in September and 20% in December 2017. Other estimates from the Minneapolis-based venture-capital firm …

A Visa-branded debit card from Shift Financial Inc. that enabled consumers with accounts at digital currency exchange Coinbase to spend based on funds held in their Coinbase accounts reportedly will cease operations in April, said the CoinTelegraph.com news site. The card, issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank, reportedly faced a limited …

For years, banking and payments veterans have dismissed cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin but at the same time have shown interest in the digital currencies’ underlying technology, the blockchain. Now one of the world’s biggest banking titans is testing its own blockchain-based token, but its restriction of the system to its own …

New Jersey’s legislature this month passed a bill requiring merchants to accept cash at the point of sale, and several big cities, including New York, are considering similar measures. But does cash really need legal protection from payment cards and mobile wallets? That’s the question public officials as well as …

Cincinnati-based grocery giant The Kroger Co. has launched a proprietary mobile-payments service, Kroger Pay, and an accompanying Kroger Rewards debit card. Kroger Pay, available for iOS and Android mobile devices, is a quick-response code-based mobile-payment service, which also includes digital coupons and personalized offers. Kroger Pay, like some other retailer-backed mobile-payments services, …

The number of U.S. merchant locations accepting EMV chip cards grew nearly 15% in 2018 while EMV payment transactions rose 27%, according to new data from Visa Inc.  In its latest report on the conversion of U.S. general-purpose payment cards from magnetic stripes to EMV chips, Visa says 3.1 million …

While global card expenditures will increase 80% to $45 trillion by 2023 from $25 trillion in 2017, growth in the United States will be slow compared to other regions because the U.S. is already a well-developed market, says RBR Research in its “Global Payment Cards Data and Forecasts to 2023” …

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. expects further processor mergers in the near term and isn’t averse to initiating them in cases where they fit the company’s strategy, its chairman and chief executive said Tuesday morning. “We will always look for opportunities,” said Gary Norcross, who is also president of the …