September, 2023

• 1 September

  How to Tap Real Time’s Potential

  

  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 …

July, 2023

• 1 July

  By 2025, Most Transactions Will Be Settled in Real Time

  

  That’s a good thing, though it’s important to understand the potential drawbacks of instant payments. By 2025, the majority of financial transactions will be settled in real time. There’s good reason for this prediction. Merchants and customers are demanding faster ways to pay or collect funds, and larger companies, as …

May, 2023

• 1 May

  The Weakest Link

  

  When fraud losses are mostly owing to consumers’ naivete, how can banks and networks react? They’re starting to figure that out. Consumers are at the heart of person-to-person payments and criminals know it. Criminals also know consumers can be the weakest link in securing P2P payments against their attacks. In …

April, 2023

• 1 April

  The Rules of the Game

  

  Regulations are coming for blockchain and crypto. Here’s what they’ll look like and how to interpret them. Blockchain and crypto had quite a year in 2022. A crash in liquidity during the first half of the year was quickly followed by the FTX collapse in the second—all of which generated …

February, 2023

• 1 February

  Faster Payments Demand Faster Action

  

  With major markets adopting real-time payments processing, U.S. banks that don’t act soon risk being left behind. All around the world, banks are making the move to real-time payments. Throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia, we’re seeing banking customers reap considerable benefits from being able to transact in real time. …

January, 2023

• 1 January

  Meeting the SWIFT Challenge

  

  Financial institutions that use the messaging network face a deadline for conversion to a new standard. Here’s one way to do that efficiently. SWIFT is used by banks around the world to securely send messages about money-transfer instructions. In fact, around $5 trillion a day passes through SWIFT’s messaging system. …
• 1 January

  The Self-Serve Future

  

  Vending, as well as unattended payments, is evolving into a more-encompassing retail setting and bringing digital payments along. Few merchant segments have been as well-suited to contactless payments as vending and unattended payments. And now, spurred by changing consumer habits during the pandemic, contactless payments are driving cashless payments in …

December, 2022

• 1 December

  Payment Card Routing Is All Politics

  

  The real winners from the Fed’s latest debit card routing rule aren’t the merchants. And they certainly aren’t the banks. Guess who? In the last decade, the flow of funds across debit card networks has curiously become a concern of Congress and the Federal Reserve.  It all began with the …

November, 2022

• 1 November

  Why the Metaverse Is the Next Big Opportunity

  

  With digital commerce showing huge potential, it’s time for payments players to take this virtual world seriously. Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), extended reality, mixed reality, Web 3.0, blockchain—all of these concepts have been lumped together into the term “metaverse.” And a lot of other terms …

July, 2022

• 1 July

  It’s Too Soon to Count Out Crypto

  

  Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have had a rough time in 2022, but a trend toward mainstream adoption is gaining momentum. Equities across the board, including Bitcoin, are massively down from their 2021 highs. Tech stocks, bonds, commodities—nothing seems safe from the current sentiment. But what does that mean for the …