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A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.
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March 12, 2026
Top Post
PixRevolution Malware Hijacks Brazil's PIX Transfers in Real Time
Infosecurity Magazine
"A newly identified Android banking trojan capable of hijacking Brazil's instant payment transfers, targeting one of the country's most widely used financial systems, has been uncovered by security researchers. The malware, known as PixRevolution, silently monitors victims' smartphones and redirects funds during PIX transactions, according to a new analysis from mobile security firm Zimperium. The researchers said PixRevolution exploits the speed and irreversibility of those transfers. Once a PIX payment is completed it cannot be reversed, making it an attractive target for financial cybercrime."
On the web
Revolut Launches UK Bank
Revolut
"Following a successful mobilisation period, the PRA has lifted restrictions on Revolut’s banking licence, and given approval to launch its UK bank, Revolut Bank UK Ltd. Revolut Bank UK Ltd is set to roll out new banking services for its 13 million UK customers, with deposit accounts protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Current accounts to roll out gradually for new customers in the coming weeks; nothing currently changes for existing customers to ensure smooth transition."
European Central Bank Unveils Tokenized Finance Plan to Bolster EU’s Financial Autonomy
CoinDesk
"The European Central Bank set out a timeline for building a tokenized wholesale financial ecosystem centered on the euro to safeguard its role as a leading international currency. The strategy hinges on Pontes, a distributed-ledger-based transaction layer, and Appia, a long-term project to design the architecture, governance and standards of a tokenized financial system. The initiative aims to bolster the EU's financial sovereignty, strategic autonomy and resilience while adapting market infrastructure to blockchain-based assets."
Zelle® and Bank of America Partner to Accelerate Delivery of Charitable Donations to Nonprofits
Bank of America
"Zelle® and Bank of America announce a first-of-its-kind application of Zelle to enable charitable disbursements from Donor Advised Funds (DAFs). The new capability allows nonprofits to receive charitable grant funding in near real time, replacing the traditional multi-week, paper-based process with fast and reliable digital payments using the Zelle network. This new capability is part of Zelle® Forward, the network’s innovation agenda."
Finzly Unveils Token Galaxy: Unifying Money Movement for Traditional and Tokenized Banking
Finzly, Inc.
"Finzly announced the launch of Token Galaxy, a new suite within its BankOS platform designed to help banks operate seamlessly across traditional and tokenized forms of money, with the freedom to connect to multiple blockchains, issuers, and consortia as they choose. Finzly is bringing stablecoins and tokenized deposits alongside traditional assets into the same operational environment on its platform BankOS – its modern operating system that serves as the innovation core for several leading banks."
Mastercard Move Expands China Connectivity With New Bank of Shanghai Collaboration
Mastercard
"Mastercard announced a collaboration between Mastercard Move, its money movement platform, and Bank of Shanghai (BoS) to enable seamless, bi-directional payment flows between China and global markets. As international trade, migration and education continue to grow, people and businesses increasingly rely on fast, predictable and transparent global payments. The integration of BoS into Mastercard Move streamlines these cross-border flows, giving SMEs, students and families a more efficient way to move money into and out of China, strengthening a vital financial bridge between China and the world."
The Long Road to Going Passwordless
BankInfoSecurity
"Passwords should have disappeared a decade ago. They haven't. Legacy systems, fragmented IT infrastructures and the complexity of modern hybrid environments have kept them alive and kept organizations vulnerable, said Guido Gerrits, vice president of identity and access management for Europe at Thales."
Supercharged: AI and the New Age of Disruption
Citigroup
"Technology has always had the power to reshape societies. But the current wave of disruption – driven by advances in artificial intelligence – is unfolding at dizzying pace and on an unprecedented scale.Unlike previous technological revolutions, which generally took decades, AI is firing change across industries, institutions and societies in real time.It’s a challenge just to keep up. This Citi Institute report focuses on a few areas of disruptive technology, taking in innovations themselves, but also the shifts they will drive."
March 11, 2026
Top Post
Agentic Payments: A New Challenge for Europe’s Payments Ecosystem
Osborne Clarke
"The rapid development of AI-agent-initiated payment models signals a pivotal shift for the European payments ecosystem. While current implementations are pilot-based within the EU, market signals suggest production deployments are targeted as early as 2026. As AI-agent technology moves from the 'back office' to the 'front office' for payment institutions, the relevance of regulatory requirements increases significantly. In this context, questions arise around the regulatory classification of the service, the allocation of liability, and the satisfaction of authorisation requirements and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)."
On the web
Coinbase-Backed AI Payments Protocol Wants to Fix Micropayment but Demand Is Just Not There Yet
Coindesk
"The x402 protocol aims to enable "agentic payments" by embedding stablecoin micropayments directly into the internet’s communication layer so AI agents and software can pay each other automatically. Despite a roughly $7 billion ecosystem valuation, onchain data shows that x402 currently processes only about $28,000 in daily volume, much of it from testing and "gamed" transactions rather than real commerce. Supporters argue that x402’s true utility will emerge as more AI-driven, pay-per-use services come online, but for now the narrative around agentic commerce is running ahead of actual adoption."
Amazon Opens up New AI-Enabled Buy for Me, Shop Direct Options for Merchants
Digital Commerce 360
"As Amazon’s agentic commerce strategy continues to evolve, the online retail giant is building out its Buy for Me and Shop Direct tools as well, now with new options for third-party feeds that connect merchants with those buyer experiences. The Buy for Me option introduced a means for Amazon to help a shopper initiate associated purchases faster, using artificial intelligence (AI)."
Amazon Wins Court Order to Block Perplexity’s AI Shopping Agent
CNBC
"Amazon won a temporary injunction against Perplexity to block its Comet AI browser from scraping its website. The company sued Perplexity in November, accusing the startup of concealing its AI shopping agents. A federal judge ruled that Amazon provided “strong evidence” that Perplexity’s Comet browser accessed its website without its authorization."
Wells Fargo Files ‘WFUSD’ Trademark Covering Crypto Trading, Payments and Tokenization Services
The Block
"Wells Fargo has filed a U.S. trademark application for “WFUSD” covering digital asset software, crypto exchange services, software for processing stablecoin and other digital asset transactions, and tokenization platforms. The application follows the bank’s prior investments in crypto infrastructure and a recent report from its investment institute classifying digital assets as an “investable” portfolio option."
New Report Finds AI-Generated Identities Are Already Passing Digital Onboarding at Scale
Business Wire
"Identity verification systems across Latin America’s digital banking ecosystems are entering a structural risk phase as generative AI enables synthetic identities to be created faster than verification infrastructure can adapt, according to a new threat intelligence report released by DuckDuckGoose. The report, When Identity Becomes Generatable, analyzes generative AI and finds that identity creation has shifted from manipulation toward real-time synthetic human generation capable of passing onboarding and authentication systems."
Cross-Border Payment Technologies: Innovations and Challenges
BIS
"Cross-border payments (XBP), particularly remittances and retail transactions, remain more costly, slower, less accessible, and less transparent than domestic payments. The continued inefficient XBP arrangements, in contrast to progress made in domestic payments using new technologies and innovative models, reflect that private actors alone cannot overcome the many market failures that hinder XBP."
Early Warning Submits Comments on the Future of Fed’s Check Service
Early Warning
"Early Warning Services, LLC, submitted a comment letter responding to the Federal Reserve Board’s Request for Information on the future of its check services, urging a measured transition that preserves nationwide stability while also supporting a shift to digital payment alternatives. In its letter, Early Warning emphasized that the Federal Reserve plays a unique role in providing nationwide reach, predictable settlement, and system-wide coordination. Any modernization effort should avoid abrupt changes that could shift costs, increase disputes, or disproportionately impact community banks, credit unions, small businesses, and underserved populations."
Mastercard Advances Its Agentic AI Strategy With Virtual C-Suite, Bringing Executive Level Intelligence to Small Businesses [Video]
Mastercard
"Mastercard is advancing a new era of AI with capabilities that span the full commerce lifecycle, from understanding how money moves to predicting risk and opportunity to recommending and executing next best actions. Mastercard’s growing suite of AI-powered capabilities is designed to pioneer the shift from insight to action — all with privacy, trust, and human oversight at the core."
Ripple to Acquire Australian Financial Services License as APAC Payments Volume Doubles
CoinDesk
"Ripple plans to acquire BC Payments Australia to secure an Australian Financial Services License, enabling it to offer its full payments stack in the country through a single integration. The company says payments volume in the Asia-Pacific region nearly doubled year-over-year in 2025, contributing to a reported $100 billion in total processed volume across 60 markets."
How Close Is the EU to Break Free From Visa and Mastercard’s Grip?
Euronews
"In 2023, Visa and Mastercard processed about 4.7 trillion USD in payment volume across the bloc. Transactions in 13 out of 21 eurozone member states still run exclusively on international card schemes. US card brands monopolize almost the entire international segment, handling 61% of the euro-area card transactions. Increasing EU-US tensions have heightened fears of 450 million European citizens being potentially cut off from international financial infrastructures."
Mastercard Launches New Crypto Partner Program
Mastercard
"Digital assets are entering a new phase. Introducing the Mastercard Crypto Partner Program - a new global initiative that brings together more than 85 crypto‑native companies, payments providers, and financial institutions to create a forum for meaningful dialogue and collaboration as this space continues to mature. Recognizing how much there is to learn from the innovators building on chain every day, the program will allow expertise and insights to flow both ways as we shape the future together."
Biocatch Unveils DeviceIQ: Redefines How Banks Evaluate Device Risk in the AI Era
Biocatch
"BioCatch announced the launch of DeviceIQ, a comprehensive new device identification and intelligence product transforming how financial institutions evaluate the trustworthiness of devices used for digital banking. DeviceIQ includes a series of first-of-its-kind capabilities designed to help banks not only reliably recognize devices in this environment but also evaluate real-time device health, re-determining for every digital banking session whether a device — recognized or not — can be trusted."
On the wires
Global Virtual Travel Card Program Launched by Visa and Trip.com to Make Travel Payments Simpler and More Seamless in Asia Pacific
PR Newswire
"As international travel rebounds across Asia Pacific, Visa and Trip.com Group have entered into a new global agreement designed to make booking and paying for travel more seamless for consumers and partners worldwide. Through this collaboration, Trip.com Group will introduce a virtual travel card program issued in partnership with Visa via Trip.com Group's fintech arm, TripLink."
BofA AI and Digital Innovations Fuel 30 Billion Client Interactions
PR Newswire
"AI-driven solutions, global payments, and personalized financial planning tools have propelled Bank of America clients' digital engagement to record levels. Clients connected with their finances approximately 30 billion times last year through a combination of digital logins and proactive alerts, marking a 14% year-over-year increase. More consumers and businesses moving money digitally: Zelle adoption reached 25 million active users. Zelle users sent and received a record 1.8 billion transactions worth a record $556 billion in 2025, growing 16% and 18% year-over-year respectively. "
March 10, 2026
On the web
Meta Quietly Trials Agentic Commerce Within Meta AI
Fashion Network
"Meta is stepping up its push into conversational commerce by integrating shopping features into its Meta AI assistant. The Menlo Park-based group is currently rolling out a dedicated interface in the US that turns user queries into a complete end-to-end shopping journey. Although the final payment button is not yet live in the test versions, the technical architecture appears to confirm Meta's intention to keep users within its proprietary environment rather than redirecting them to third-party sites."
ABA, Associations Seek Extension of Comment Deadline for OCC Genius Act Implementation
ABA Banking Journal
"The American Bankers Association today joined three other banking associations in requesting that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency extend the public comment deadline for a proposed rule to implement payment stablecoin legislation, saying the potential ramifications for banks merited a deliberative approach. The OCC last month released a nearly 400-page proposed rule to implement the Genius Act and requested feedback on more than 200 questions, many of which were multipart. The agency gave the public 60 days to comment on the proposal."
Why Banks Are Moving Beyond Single-Provider Stablecoin Payment Rails
CoinDesk
"Infrastructure providers are increasingly building network-based stablecoin payment systems instead of single-provider rails, said Borderless CEO, Kevin Lehtiniitty, in an interview on CoinDesk's Markets Outlook. Borderless recently partnered with wallet infrastructure provider Dfns to launch an institutional stablecoin off-ramp aimed at banks, fintechs and enterprises. The system routes stablecoin payouts through multiple liquidity providers across global markets. The goal is to convert stablecoins into local fiat currencies more reliably while avoiding dependence on a single vendor."
Goodbye Visa & Mastercard - Europe Is Building Its Own Payment System [Video]
MSN
"Europe is preparing one of the biggest changes to its financial system in decades: the digital euro. Today, most digital payments in Europe rely on American companies like Visa and Mastercard. Every card payment passes through private networks that charge fees and process large amounts of transaction data. The digital euro could change that. Instead of relying on private payment networks, Europeans would be able to pay directly through a public digital wallet issued by the European Central Bank."
Mastercard and Garanti BBVA Introduce Agentic Commerce to Transform Digital Shopping in Türkiye
TechAfrica News
"Garanti BBVA, Türkiye’s leading bank in digital innovation, is introducing an AI-powered shopping assistant in collaboration with Mastercard. Leveraging Mastercard’s global technology, this next-generation solution will soon be available through Garanti BBVA Mobil and Bonus Flaş, enabling consumers to search, compare, and securely purchase products—all within a single platform. This solution also marks the first end-to-end agentic commerce transaction in Türkiye’s banking vertical."
Report to Congress From the Secretary of the Treasury on Innovative Technologies to Counter Illicit Finance Involving Digital Assets
Treasury
"This report outlines the Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) findingsregarding the use and potential use of innovative and novel methods, techniques, and strategiesby financial institutions to counter illicit finance related to digital assets. It also makesrecommendations, including legislative, regulatory, and other proposals."
Top US Banks Weigh Suing Federal Regulator Over Crypto Banking Rules
The Guardian
"Some of the largest US banks are considering suing their financial regulator, arguing that a new raft of licenses for crypto, payment and fintech could put American consumers and the wider financial system at risk. The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), which represents 40 of the biggest US lenders including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, is understood to be weighing its legal options after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) failed to heed repeated warnings from influential banking groups and state regulators over its reinterpretation of federal licensing rules."
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