Issuing/Originating

Powered by international growth, American Express Co. reported early Wednesday that its merchant network now has more than 170 million locations worldwide. In his annual letter to shareholders, AmEx chairman and chief executive Stephen J. Squeri also plugged the 176-year-old company’s artificial-intelligence initiatives. What AmEx calls its “locations in force” …

Bank-focused instant payments have been around since 2017, when The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC launched its RTP network, and gained more attention with the 2023 debut of FedNow from the Federal Reserve. While thousands of banks and credit unions have signed up to receive real-time payments from these services, …

With nearly three-quarters of major U.S. banks reporting an increase in fraud losses last year, developers of fraud-prevention technology are scrambling to offer solutions. In the latest example, the Portugal-based technology company Feedzai has announced RiskFM, a tool the company says replaces a singular reliance on card-network data with information …

Payments processor Lightspeed Commerce Inc. announced a new AI-based tool aimed at helping merchants with inventory, product availability, and stock discrepancies.  Ticket Fairy, a digital platform that handles ticket sales and other functions for live events, announced its incorporation of AI in the launch of its new platform, Ticket Fairy 3.0. Founded …

For years, PayPal has maintained two separate peer-to-peer payment services, though the brand it promotes most often for this capability is Venmo. But Venmo users have not been able to send money outside of the United States, limiting its utility. Now, that’s changed. Early Monday, PayPal announced a new link …

The cryptocurrency platform KuCoin introduced its Tomorrowland Limited Edition KuCard, a Visa card issued in partnership with the Tomorrowland music festival taking place March 21-28. Glia, an AI platform for banks, has integrated a loan-payment technology from MessagePay in an effort to integrate payments into digital interactions between community banks and their …

The Electronic Payments Coalition has opened another front in the battle over the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act with the launch of an ad campaign aimed at having the law overturned by the Illinois legislature. The campaign comes hard on the heels of efforts by organizations representing financial institutions in …

New York City-based payments and corporate card platform Ramp Business Corp., said it has acquired Juno, a platform that offers travel arrangements for non-employee travel. Terms were not announced. Ramp’s deal for Juno was preceded by its Friday announcement that it has acquired Billhop, a payments provider licensed in the United Kingdom …

Payment-software developer BHMI announced enhancements aimed at supporting debit processing in Canada on its Concourse Financial Software Suite, touching on settlement, reconciliation, dispute management, and reporting capabilities. Indiana has become the first state to impose a ban on cryptocurrency kiosks, alleging the machines have been used to steal millions of dollars from scam …