Competitive Strategies

Over the past 10 years, regulators across the United States, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East have levied nearly $26 billion in financial penalties against financial institutions for anti-money laundering (AML), know your customer (KYC), and other sanctions-related violations. In today’s heightened regulatory climate, organizations need to be concerned with …

Departing PayPal Holdings Inc. chief operating officer Bill Ready in January will assume the role of head of commerce at Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit, TechCrunch reported. PayPal announced in June that he would leave the company at year’s end. Ready came to PayPal in 2013 as a result of the company’s $800-million …

PayPal Holdings Inc. on Wednesday sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleging the regulatory agency’s 8-month-old prepaid rule represents a “category error” and a violation of the First Amendment, and should be vacated by the court. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, charges …

The New York City area’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday activated 96 contactless card readers in Manhattan’s Penn Station, one of the nation’s busiest transit hubs, in its quest to accept contactless payment cards and mobile-payment apps across its vast subway and bus system by the end of next year. …

Mastercard Inc. on Wednesday announced it has begun its first real-world pilots for a new digital-identity system the company says has the potential to dramatically simplify payments and other interactions between consumers and government and commercial entities. Two separate pilots for the new service, which relies on mobile devices, are …

Bank of America Corp. next year will enhance Erica, its popular digital financial assistant powered by artificial intelligence, with two new features—one to make its credit and debit card holders aware of which merchants might be storing their card numbers, and another that will issue alerts about possible duplicate charges. …

Facebook Inc.’s Libra cryptocurrency may be struggling with regulators globally, but that doesn’t mean blockchain processors aren’t moving forward with other stablecoins. Atlanta-based BitPay Inc. on Tuesday introduced payment acceptance and settlement services in a trio of stablecoins whose value is tied to the U.S. dollar: Circle Internet Financial Ltd.’s …

In addition to merchant processor Shift4 Payments Inc., another payments-industry initial public offering of stock is in the offing. This one comes from Bill.com Holdings Inc., a provider of cloud-based invoice-management and payment services for small and mid-sized businesses. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bill.com hopes to raise approximately $158.9 million after …

GoCardless Ltd., a London-based company specializing in handling international recurring payments, such as subscriptions, is eyeing a bigger presence in the U.S. market and has struck a deal that it expects will help process debits through the automated clearing house. The arrangement, announced Monday, will let GoCardless access ABA routing …

Like their American cousins, Canadians are rapidly adopting newer payment methods. In fact, they’re doing so even faster than U.S. consumers in some respects. The report, “Canadian Payment Methods and Trends: 2019,” released last week by Payments Canada, says contactless payments grew 30% year-over-year in 2018. Card- and mobile-based contactless …