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March 5, 2026
On the web
Nacha’s Top 50 ACH Originators and Receivers of 2025 Now Available; Total ACH Payment Volume in 2025 Exceeded 42 Billion
Nacha
"The Nacha Top 50 rankings of financial institution originators and receivers of ACH payments for 2025 are now available. Among originating financial institutions, the Top 50 handled ACH volume of 30.7 billion payments last year, up 4.7% from 2024. They accounted for 91.4% of the ACH Network’s total commercial payments volume. The Top 50 receiving institutions had ACH payment volume of 23 billion, an increase of 6.4% over 2024. These institutions accounted for 65.1% of total volume on the ACH Network, inclusive of payments received from the federal government."
Swift Accelerates Transformation of Consumer Payments as Banks Roll Out New Framework for Retail Transactions
Business Wire
"Five of the world’s biggest remittance markets will be among the first to benefit from Swift framework that elevates customer experience to new levels. More than 25 banks have committed to processing payments under the payments framework by June, giving consumers and SMEs certainty around speed, price and delivery when sending money internationally. More markets will be activated by the end of the year as the industry continues to recognise potential of the scheme in helping to meet G20 targets"
AI Should Be the First Defense for Stablecoin Payment Fraud
Bank Info Security
"Stablecoin adoption will reshape fraud prevention in financial services. Institutions must deploy artificial intelligence systems that evaluate transactions instantly and flag suspicious activity before authorization. Sean Ren, associate professor of computer science at the University of South California, explained how faster AI and layered defenses will protect digital payments. Instead of allowing suspicious payments and relying on reversals later, AI systems must aggressively flag potential threats before funds move, Ren said."
Revolut Files for US Bank Charter, Names Duransoy as US CEO
Yahoo Finance
"Britain's Revolut applied for a U.S. bank charter and appointed former Visa executive Cetin Duransoy as its new CEO for the United States, the fintech company announced. Revolut, which has about 70 million clients in 40 markets, is setting its sights on the lucrative U.S. market. If its applications are approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Revolut plans to broaden its U.S. business to gather deposits, make loans, issue credit cards and facilitate payments."
Testing Algorithms Becomes a Frontline QA Challenge as Banks Confront Model Risk
QA Financial
"One bank that has openly described how it is tackling this challenge is Royal Bank of Canada, where its research arm Borealis AI has published detailed accounts of how model validation itself is being engineered and automated. Rather than treating validation as a static, document-heavy exercise conducted late in the lifecycle, RBC has described efforts to transform it into a repeatable, platform-driven process that sits closer to development and deployment."
Authentic Brands Group Provides One-Click Purchase Protection
Chain Store Age
"A global brand management company is trying to take the worry out of the customer purchase experience. Authentic Brands Group is launching the Seel agentic post-purchase platform that includes the vendor’s “Worry-Free Purchase” program which features extended return windows, white-glove claims support and delay protection. Through a seamless one-click integration at checkout, customers can enroll in the program. Seel then manages claims, refunds, and support, including an AI-driven instant claim process reviews and approves claims immediately."
BNY and SWIFT Launch Blockchain Ledger
Banking Exchange
"BNY has partnered with global financial messaging network SWIFT to develop a blockchain-based ledger designed to enhance cross-border payments and support the settlement of tokenized assets. Rather than replacing existing systems, the initiative will focus on building an interoperable layer designed to complement SWIFT’s established global messaging network."
Euro Safe Asset Status up for Grabs in Emerging ‘Multi-Moneyverse’
OMFIF
"A key plank of the developments is the European Central Bank’s provision later this year of a facility for Eurosystem banks to settle tokenised finance in public money. The Federal Reserve is avoiding even pseudonymous efforts in this area for now, wary of the political risk in appearing to work on a central bank digital currency, which in retail form is explicitly banned. Even parts of the Eurosystem have studiously avoided calling their Pontes initiative ‘wholesale CBDC’."
ACI Worldwide Launches Card Payments on Cloud-Native ACI Connetic, Advancing Unified Payments Platform
ACI Worldwide
ACI Worldwide announced the launch of ACI Connetic for Cards, a next generation, fully integrated, modernized card payments suite within ACI Connetic, the industry’s first unified cloud-native payments hub, bringing together account-to-account (A2A), card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention on one platform.
March 4, 2026
Top Post
Drew Edmond Named Partner at Glenbrook
PR Newswire
"Glenbrook Partners, a leading strategy consulting firm focused exclusively on the payments industry, is pleased to announce the promotion of Drew Edmond to Partner. Drew joined Glenbrook in 2018 and has been instrumental in advising leading merchants, payment providers, and financial institutions on optimizing payments performance and navigating ongoing change across the payments ecosystem."
On the web
Google Requires Structured Product Data for UCP Checkout
The Keyword
"Google has published an official help document explaining the Universal Commerce Protocol and how it supports commerce interactions on Google surfaces. Google’s documentation makes it clear that the Universal Commerce Protocol is an open standard that defines how agents can interact with merchants programmatically. This includes product discovery, comparisons, capability negotiation, checkout initiation, and post-purchase flows."
Why Europe Needs a Payment System Independent of Mastercard and Visa [Video]
Euro News
"Most card or online purchases in Europe go through Visa or Mastercard, two American companies that lead global payments. EU leaders now see this as a risk Europe can't ignore, and they're acting. Wero is a digital wallet created by European banks and payment companies to avoid using card networks."
Capital One Begins Originating Select Credit Cards on Discover Network
The Street
"In a statement made to TheStreet, a Capital One company spokesperson confirmed that the company had “started” originating select credit cards on the Discover Network. The word “originating” is the key word here; it implies that new customers will receive a Venture, Savor, Quicksilver, VentureOne, SavorOne, or Quicksilver Discover card. However, existing cardholders likely won’t be affected until their card expires, at which point the expiring cards might replace their old Visa or Mastercard-issued one."
Affirm And Stripe Link AI Agents To Buy Now Pay Later Growth
Yahoo Finance
"Affirm Holdings has expanded its work with Stripe to support Shared Payment Tokens for buy now, pay later transactions. The update allows AI agents to initiate secure pay over time purchases without sharing full card or account credentials. Affirm is also connecting its services to emerging agent driven commerce platforms that can shop and check out on behalf of users."
InComm Payments and SKUx Partner to Provide Innovative Digital Payment Solutions for Humanitarian Aid and Other Emerging Markets
InComm Payments
"InComm Payments and SKUx announced a strategic partnership to revolutionize digital payment distribution. The partnership is poised to rapidly advance the opportunity for a diverse set of organizations to distribute real-time, branded digital payments with precision controls at the item level, ensuring donated or promoted funds are spent at the right time and for the right purpose."
Stripe Wants to Turn Your AI Costs Into a Profit Center
TechCrunch
"Stripe released a preview of a new feature that could help AI startups (and other companies) solve the problem of passing through the underlying costs of AI model usage to their customers. Stripe’s feature, however, goes even further than just passing through the costs of the tokens. It allows startups to charge a markup percentage on token usage. So a company can, for instance, charge an automatic 30% above the cost of the tokens that the startup will pay the model maker."
Lipaworld Launches Stablecoin-Backed Payment Card for the Unbanked [South Africa]
Hypertext
"While South Africa has one of the most sophisticated banking environments in the world, a large number of citizens still remain unbanked. Lipaworld has launched a new stablecoin-powered payment card that allows Africans without traditional bank accounts to transact anywhere VISA cards are accepted, whether it be virtually or in-store. No bank account is required to make use of the card, which means users can transact, receive payments, and participate in the digital economy without being dependent on legacy systems."
Kraken Becomes First Crypto Company to Secure Fed Master Account Access: WSJ
CoinDesk
"Kraken has secured a Federal Reserve "master account," giving its banking arm direct access to the Fed's core payment systems and allowing it to settle payments itself. The approval lets Kraken speed up deposits and withdrawals for large traders and institutional clients, but is limited, with Kraken not earning interest on reserves or accessing the Fed's emergency lending. The move is part of Kraken's efforts to expand its operations and move towards a potential initial public offering (IPO), following in the footsteps of other crypto firms like Coinbase and Gemini."
Agentic Payments Are Coming. Is Your Company Ready?
CIO
"Major AI vendors, payment platforms, and retailers are rolling out agentic payments. Several major retailers rolled out agentic shopping capabilities or pilots last year, and the pace of announcements accelerated toward the end of 2025 — and then it accelerated again in January after Google announced that Chrome, with more than 70% market share, now has built-in support for agentic payments."
Fast Funds, Familiar Controls: How Stablecoins Fit Into Everyday Payments
Global Data
"Stablecoin transaction volumes exceeded $34tn last year, spanning remittances, enterprise flows and on-chain commerce...Circle, the issuer of USDC, has proposed a smart-contract ‘refund protocol’ for non-custodial, on-chain dispute resolution and has discussed reversible transactions on its Arc infrastructure, but these ideas are early and not yet standard across markets."
On the wires
Pagos Transforms Payments Data From Harmonized to AI-Ready
PR Newswire
"Pagos, an AI-powered payments intelligence leader, unveils a powerful payments data platform, offering enterprise merchants a single, enriched data foundation to power analytics, optimization, and agentic workflows."
Spreedly Makes Agentic Commerce a Live Channel for Merchants
PR Newswire
"AI agents have advanced from recommending products to completing purchases at checkout. Spreedly announced that agentic commerce is now live as a channel within its open payments platform, enabling merchants to process agent-initiated transactions over their existing payment infrastructure. Spreedly enables agent-initiated transactions to flow through existing payment service provider (PSP) relationships while merchants remain the merchant of record and routing logic stays intact."
March 3, 2026
Top Post
Nexi Group and Google Cloud Collaborate to Drive Agentic Commerce Across Europe
Google Cloud Press Corner
"Nexi Group, a leading European paytech, and Google Cloud announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build foundational infrastructure for the next generation of digital commerce. The collaboration focuses on enabling agentic commerce - in which AI agents autonomously navigate shopping journeys and execute secure payments on behalf of consumers, strictly based on their explicit authorizations. In parallel, Nexi will leverage Google Cloud technologies to drive operational efficiency across its core platforms."
On the web
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Slams Stablecoin Yield Demands: 'The Public Will Pay'
Decrypt
"JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said if crypto firms want to offer stablecoin rewards, then they should become banks. White House-led talks between banking and crypto leaders have so far failed to produce a compromise on the issue. The impasse has stalled crypto's coveted market structure bill. That bill, hotly desired by most of the crypto industry, was poised to be voted on by the powerful Senate Banking Committee in January. But on the eve of the vote, Coinbase abruptly pulled support for the legislation, citing the likelihood that senators would approve amendments to the bill restricting stablecoin rewards programs."
Supporting Additional Payment Methods for Agentic Commerce
Stripe
"Last year, we launched Shared Payment Tokens (SPTs), a payment primitive for agentic commerce that lets agents initiate payments with a customer’s permission and preferred payment method, without exposing the underlying credentials. We’re expanding SPT support to enable broader access to network-led agentic payment capabilities, including Mastercard Agent Pay and Visa Intelligent Commerce, as well as buy now, pay later (BNPL) methods such as Affirm and Klarna. This makes Stripe the first and only provider that supports both agentic network tokens and BNPL tokens in agentic commerce through a single primitive."
Modulr Partners With Hibob to Enhance Pay Day Experience for Customers
Modulr Finance
"Modulr announced a new partnership with AI powered HR, Finance and Payroll platform, HiBob. The partnership will see HiBob deploy Modulr’s payments automation directly into its payroll workflow, reducing the administrative burden and improving the pay day experience for customers. By deploying Modulr’s payments automation directly into HiBob’s payroll workflow, HiBob customers will now gain access to a single, reliable process that improves operational efficiency, accuracy, and control from approval through to pay day."
Klarna Expands Further Into Agentic Commerce, Offering Flexible Payments to Merchants via Stripe's Shared Payment Tokens
Business Wire
"Klarna announced that its flexible payment options will soon be supported in AI agent-driven shopping experiences through Stripe’s Shared Payment Tokens (SPTs), making Klarna available in AI-powered checkout flows for US merchants already live with Klarna through Stripe, provided AI shopping agents allow the ability to offer flexible payments at checkout. The integration addresses a growing gap in agentic commerce: AI shopping agents have been defaulting to card-on-file payments by design, effectively freezing out alternative payment methods, including BNPL, from automated checkout flows."
Ripple Redefines Payments with End-to-End Stablecoin Platform and Global Customer Momentum
Ripple
"Ripple is redefining the payment journey for global money movement – removing the need to stitch together multiple, disjointed solutions across vendors, regions and timezones. Leveraging recent acquisitions of Palisade (custody and treasury automation) and Rail (virtual accounts and collections), Ripple’s solution now allows customers to collect, hold, exchange and payout in both fiat and stablecoins — including the ability to provision named virtual accounts and wallets, automate collection flows, exchange and settle funds into operational accounts within a single unified platform."
AvidXchange Announces Embedded Supplier Payment Automation Solution for the AppFolio
AvidXchange
"AvidXchange Inc. announced the launch of its Accounts Payable as a Service solution for AppFolio customers, further expanding the partnership between the two companies and making AvidXchange’s payment automation solution available in the AppFolio StackTM Marketplace. AvidXchange’s Accounts Payable as a Service is a fully managed, embedded solution that enables accounting systems and ERP providers to offer the ability for their customers to execute payments directly within their platforms."
The ATM Scam Surge: How Crypto Kiosks Are Being Used in Social Engineering and Fraud
Finance Feeds
"Traditional financial systems have different compliance requirements, including transaction monitoring, fraud detection alerts, account freezes, dispute processes, and chargeback rights. Conversely, crypto ATM transfers are irreversible. Once Bitcoin or other assets are sent to a wallet, they cannot be reversed. Neither does the blockchain offer dispute resolution, making it powerful for criminals."
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