October, 2025

• 1 October

  Payments 3.0: AI’s a Big Deal. But Not As Big As You Think

  

  Artificial intelligence will be the reason many companies return to the office. Like every new technology, AI has sparked predictions of sweeping change. But history shows reality is usually more measured. The Internet didn’t erase brick-and-mortar retail or banking. Amazon bought Whole Foods and launched its Go stores, and the …
• 1 October

  Zelle Launches an SMB Feature As Volume Soars

  

  Zelle, the peer-to-peer payment service, appears on track for a banner year with a record 2 billion transactions processed in the first six months of 2025, a 19% increase from the 2024 first half. The dollar amount of these transactions increased more, reaching nearly $600 billion, up 23% from $481 …

September, 2025

• 1 September

  Security Notes: The Ever-Present Privacy Challenge

  

  “Tell me what you are buying and how much you are paying, and I will tell you what you are thinking of, what you wish for, what your plans are.” Our payment profiles, chewed on by artificial intelligence, serve as an open window to our most intimate whims and desires, …
• 1 September

  Sorting Winners From Losers in Debit

  

  With merchants prevailing in their long-running legal battle to overturn debit rate caps set by the Federal Reserve, the largest debit card issuers could wind up the biggest losers, while Capital One Financial Corp. emerges as the big winner. U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota Judge Daniel …
• 1 September

  Payments 3.0: Who Owns the Data Shared Through Open Banking?

  

  A moonshiner’s case from almost 50 years ago could have an effect on the future of open banking. In 1973, firemen and a sheriff’s department responding to a warehouse fire found a 7,500-gallon-capacity distillery and 175 gallons of whiskey. The problem was no one had paid any taxes on the …

August, 2025

• 1 August

  QR Codes Make a Real Time Splash

  

  QR code payments have taken a big step towards becoming not only a mainstream payment option but also one that can accelerate the adoption of real-time payments. Early last month, the technology was used to facilitate a transaction over the FedNow network using the X9 standard. The demonstration transferred funds in …
• 1 August

  Payments 3.0: A Lighter Touch Doesn’t Mean You Can Ignore Regulators

  

  The payments industry expected the new administration to bring with it a wave of deregulation, but the reality seems to be a little different from the expectation. Under the leadership of Russell Vought, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has withdrawn 67 guidance documents since January. This includes eight policy statements, seven …
• 1 August

  Security Notes: Buying a Dollar for Eighty Cents

  

  I challenge you to make sense out of the title of this column! It is a vision of the near future, discounted dollars for sale. The catch: you pay 80 untethered cents to buy a tethered dollar. What does it mean? The government offers the public a chance to pay …

July, 2025

• 1 July

  Payments 3.0: For Banks, New Threats, New Opportunities

  

  Banks’ position at the center of the U.S. payments system is under siege. New business arrangements, new regulations, and even new legislation seem to be looking to push financial institutions to the sidelines. Before now, banks and credit unions seemed to have a comfortable spot where they were needed to …
• 1 July

  Security Notes: Tomorrow’s Money

  

  Most of the digital coins today should be slapped with a federal warning label, akin to the federally mandated warning on cigarettes: “This coin (e.g. Bitcoin) is at risk of sudden death” should its mathematical foundation crumble—which it will, but nobody knows when. However, the next generation of digital coins …