News

January, 2026

• 26 January

  North’s Merchant Management API: CRM‑Level Control for Modern Payments Partners

  

  North’s Merchant Management API gives Wholesale ISOs, Full Service Providers (FSPs), and Payment Facilitators deep, It is designed for partners that own risk, manage underwriting, and want to differentiate themselves with custom tools and portals for both internal teams and merchants. What the Merchant Management API does At its core, …
• 26 January

  Fiserv And Affirm Will Offer BNPL to Debit Card holders

  

  Affirm Holdings Inc. early Monday widened banks’ access to its buy now, pay later loan programs for debit card holders through a deal with Fiserv Inc. The deal will enable banks on the Fiserv network to integrate Affirm’s pay-over-time solution into their debit card programs via their digital-banking and mobile-app …
• 26 January

  PAR Tech Beefs up Its Stake in Hospitality With a Deal for Bridg

  

  Hospitality-payments specialist PAR Technology Corp. announced it will acquire Bridg Inc., a provider of identity technology and shopper data, from Cardlytics Inc. for $27.5 million, payable in shares of PAR common stock. Cardlytics agreed to pay $350 million in cash to acquire Bridg in 2021. The deal, which the parties …
• 26 January

  Another CCCA Avenue? and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/26/26

  

  The Merchants Payments Coalition released a letter from it and 350 merchant groups in support of the Credit Card Competition Act urging that the bill be attached to a proposed cryptocurrency marketplace structure legislation. The measure is expected to be discussed Tuesday by the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. The New England Automated …
• 23 January

  Equifax Launches AI-based Synthetic Identity Fraud Detection as Companies Turn to AI  

  

  Equifax Inc. early Friday launched an application to identify synthetic identity fraud. The app, known as Synthetic Identity Risk, uses artificial intelligence to analyze identity data, credit histories, and behavioral signals to determine whether an account belongs to a synthetic identity. Synthetic identities, which criminals use to open credit card …
• 23 January

  Rent May Be a New Affirm Option While it Applies for an ILC Bank Charter

  

  Some renters using the Esusu Inc. platform to build their credit may have a new option to break their monthly rent payments into smaller portions via a partnership Esusu formed with Affirm Holdings Inc. Affirm, a longstanding buy now, pay later and installment loan provider, is available to building owners …
• 23 January

  CapOne To Acquire Brex and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/23/26

  

  Capital One Financial Corp. said it will acquire Brex Inc., a San Francisco-based specialist in corporate cards and expense-management software, for $5.15 billion in stock and cash. Brex founder and chief executive Pedro Franceschi will continue in that role. The deal is expected to close by mid-year. Visa Inc. said it will …
• 22 January

  Stablecoins Are a Mainstream Form of Digital Payments, Zerohash Finds

  

  Stablecoins have moved into the mainstream of digital payments, according to a report from cryptocurrency platform provider zerohash. In 2025, stablecoin transaction volume as measured in U.S. dollars increased nearly seven-fold year over year, while the average transaction size rose 157%. In addition, the number of customers actively transacting with …
• 22 January

  FedNow Tallies More Than 1,600 FIs in its Real-Time Payments Service

  

  FedNow, the real-time payments service from the Federal Reserve, has topped 1,600 participating financial institutions in the more than two years since the network’s 2023 debut. The Fed says more than 100 of them, plus two service providers, joined in the fourth quarter. FedNow, which enables instant payments between accounts, …
• 22 January

  PayPal To Acquire Cymbio and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 1/22/26

  

  PayPal Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire Cymbio Ltd., a payments-orchestration platform, with a closing expected in the first half of the year. Terms were not disclosed. Lightspeed Commerce Inc. announced Lightspeed AI along with a number of other new services. The AI service is aimed at aiding merchants in decision making …