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May 5, 2026
Top Post
Mastercard: Subscription Fatigue Is Real. Control Should Be, Too
Mastercard
"While the payments ecosystem has been focused on streamlining the dispute resolution process for consumers, merchants need help too. That’s where a new partnership between Mastercard and Fraud Deflect. Fraud Deflect will be integrated with Mastercard’s Ethoca Consumer Clarity Smart Subscriptions to bridge the communication gap between merchants and card issuers. The service will allow subscription-based businesses to proactively resolve recurring payment disputes before they turn into costly chargebacks."
On the web
FIS Brings Agentic AI to Banking with Anthropic, Starting with Financial Crimes
FIS Global
"FIS® announced that it is working with Anthropic to bring agentic AI to banking, beginning with the Financial Crimes AI Agent. The agent will compress anti-money-laundering investigations from hours to minutes, automatically assembling evidence across a bank's core systems, evaluating activity against known typologies, and surfacing the highest-risk cases for investigator review. BMO and Amalgamated Bank will be among the first institutions to deploy the agent."
Stablecoin Startup Rain Joins Mastercard as a Principal Member
The Block
"Stablecoin payments startup Rain is partnering with Mastercard to expand its card offerings. According to an announcement on Monday, Rain is now a Mastercard Principal Member, enabling it to offer stablecoin-powered credit and prepaid cards on the second-largest global payment network. The startup also has a preexisting relationship with Visa."
Adyen Enables Lavazza to Unify Global Payments across International Markets
Adyen
"Adyen announced a partnership with Lavazza, a key player in the global coffee market. The partnership will unify the coffee brand’s digital payments ecosystem across international markets, while supporting the growth of B2B and B2C ecommerce and retail initiatives. The collaboration, already live in the US for B2B channels and in the UK and Australia for direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels, contributes to Lavazza’s strategy to consolidate its payment operations."
On the wires
Billtrust Turns Payment Behavior into Actionable Signals with Buyer Payment Portal and Cash Forecast Launch
PR Newswire
"Billtrust announced the availability of new AI‑driven Buyer Payment Portal and Cash Forecasting capabilities, along with expanded payment controls and international payment options. Together, the new capabilities help AR teams accelerate collections, improve buyer payment experiences, and gain earlier cash flow visibility from one platform."
Visa Expands ‘Agentic Ready’ Program to Issuers in Canada
Global Newswire
"Visa announced the expansion of its global program, Visa Agentic Ready, to issuers in Canada. The program is designed to help the Canadian payments ecosystem prepare for the next evolution of commerce, where AI agents may act on behalf of consumers to initiate and complete transactions securely and at scale. The program builds on Visa Intelligent Commerce, Visa’s portfolio of initiatives enabling secure, AI-driven commerce experiences at scale and has been tailored to reflect the priorities and foundations of the Canadian market."
Paymentus Launches AI-Native Service Commerce
Business Wire
"Paymentus is establishing a new category—AI-native Service Commerce—where every service interaction becomes intelligent, secure, and outcome-driven. Instead of fragmented experiences across channels, consumers can engage seamlessly through web, mobile, voice, messaging, or emerging agentic interfaces—all within a unified, persistent service relationship that spans understanding, interaction, and payment."
May 4, 2026
On the web
Wise Introduces First-Of-Its-Kind Multi-Currency Interest Feature in Canada
Yahoo Finance
"Wise announced the launch of its new Interest feature for people and businesses in Canada. Wise is the first provider in Canada to enable customers to earn a return on balances held across multiple currencies within one consolidated account."
Elavon Launches Payments Solution to Support Small Businesses
US Bank
"Elavon announced the launch of Elavon Business Solutions, a new purpose-built suite designed to help small businesses start, operate, and grow with resources built specifically for their need. Elavon Business Solutions offers industry‑specific bundles tailored for key small business verticals, including retail, restaurants, services, and eCommerce."
J.P. Morgan Payments Outlook: Five Shifts Powering Payments
J.P. Morgan
"The global economy is expected to remain resilient in 2026, although trade tensions and the risk of conflict are impacting growth, according to J.P. Morgan Global Research. The advancement of AI is creating risks and opportunities in fraud prevention, as businesses aim to deliver the seamless, personalized payment experiences customers want while protecting security."
Revolut’s Number of Customers: From 50 Million to 70 Million, and Counting
Revolut
"We’ve officially surpassed 70 million Revolut customers globally — up from our 50 million in November 2024; We added 16 million new customers in 2025, well on our way to reaching 100 million customers by mid-2027; We posted $6 billion in revenue in 2025 (up 46% year-on-year), $2.3 billion in profit before tax, and reached a $75 billion valuation; We now operate in over 40 countries, working towards our goal of going live in 100 countries"
AmEx CEO Stephen Squeri - Why Agentic Commerce Is More Fraught With Risk Than Traditional E-Commerce
Diginomica
"Stephen Squeri, CEO of American Express, is thinking a lot about AI and the role it will play in the financial services giant. The impact internally has been positive, helping the firm to achieve more, more quickly. The firm introduced the AmEx Agentic Commerce Experiences or ACE Developer Kit, intended to enable the integration of American Express Cards into AI-powered transactions with trust and control. Along with this came AmEx Agent Purchase Protection, a claimed industry-first commitment to back card members by protecting registered agent purchases."
May 1, 2026
On the web
Feedzai Launches New Benchmarking Report for Banks to Evaluate Fraud Management Performance
Feedzai
"Feedzai launched the industry’s first report for financial institutions to benchmark and assess their fraud management performance. Feedzai’s inaugural State of Fraud Performance report focuses on digital payments in the European region, drawing on Feedzai’s global transaction and data depth to provide “like-for-like” comparisons of banks with similar fraud challenges."
Experian Launches Agent Trust for AI-Led Commerce
IT Brief
"Experian has launched Agent Trust, a framework to verify links between consumers and AI agents in digital transactions. The system is aimed at AI-driven commerce. It introduces what Experian calls a “Know Your Agent” framework, designed to tie an agent's actions to a verified consumer identity and record transaction risk in real time. The framework includes Human-to-Agent Binding, an Agent Trust Token and an Agent Registry that tracks behaviour and other risk signals."
Discover Dropping Two Apple Wallet Features
MacRumors
"Discover is planning to eliminate some of the Apple Wallet integrations that it introduced in 2023, according to letters that cardholders are receiving. As of June 4, 2026, Discover users will no longer be able to see their total card balance and transaction history in the iPhone's Wallet app, or use the Pay with Rewards feature in Apple Pay."
April 30, 2026
On the web
Paypal’s New CEO Makes Venmo a Standalone Business Unit as Potential Buyers Circle
CNBC
"PayPal is separating Venmo into its own standalone unit for the first time, part of a broader reorganization that creates three distinct segments, CNBC has learned exclusively. The restructuring comes as PayPal faces takeover interest from potential buyers, including Stripe, with Venmo considered the company’s most valuable and most acquirable asset."
On the wires
PNC Bank Expands Treasury Management Capabilities with New Property and Casualty Insurance Payments Solution
PR Newswire
"PNC Bank announced the expansion of its Treasury Management insurance payments offering to support property and casualty insurance payments. This offering helps insurers streamline complex, multi-party claims payments with greater speed, flexibility and transparency. The enhanced solution builds on PNC's existing Claim Payments & Remittances (CPR) platform, which has supported healthcare-related insurance payments since 2018."
PayPal Announces Strategic Reorganization to Accelerate Growth
PR Newswire
"PayPal Holdings, Inc. announced a strategic reorganization of its business and executive leadership team to accelerate execution of its long-term growth priorities, streamline decision-making, and drive innovation. As part of the reorganization, PayPal will transition to a simplified three-business operating model: Checkout Solutions & PayPal, Consumer Financial Services & Venmo, and Payment Services & Crypto."
April 29, 2026
On the web
Stripe: Everything Announced at Sessions 2026
Stripe
"This morning at the Stripe annual conference, Stripe Sessions, the company shared 288 new products and features with more than 9,000 business leaders and builders. They noted we’re making Stripe even more programmable; protecting and propelling your business with the strength of the Stripe network; and building economic infrastructure for AI. Here’s everything announced."
FIS Launches New Platform Giving Banks Control Over Digital Money
FIS
"FIS has announced Lyriq™, a platform purpose-built for regulated financial institutions, with compliance, access controls, and auditability built into the core infrastructure. Lyriq keeps tokenized deposits, stablecoins and other digital assets on issuing bank balance sheets, integrates with existing core banking systems regardless of provider, and enables 24/7 settlement with transactions that complete fully or fail cleanly."
OnePay and Tempo Partner to Reimagine Next Generation of Payments
OnePay
"OnePay and Tempo, the payments-first Layer-1 blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, announced a partnership aimed at stablecoin-powered payouts and account funding for OnePay’s Banking product. OnePay already powers instant payouts and direct deposit access for millions of workers and consumers."
Visa Accelerates Stablecoin Momentum: Adding Five Blockchains for Settlement
Visa
"Visa announced that it is adding five blockchains to its global stablecoin settlement pilot, expanding how issuers and acquirers can settle with the network. As stablecoins move into mainstream payment flows, Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot now supports nine blockchains and has reached a $7 billion annualized stablecoin settlement run rate, up 50% since last quarter. Visa is adding support for five additional blockchains: Arc; Base; Canton; Polygon; and Tempo."
BILL Launches New Travel Offering to Help SMBs Take Control of Travel Spend
Bill
"BILL announced the launch of BILL Travel, a new BILL Spend & Expense product that brings booking, budgets, card controls and expense management into one connected workflow. BILL also announced additional Spend & Expense innovations that build on its vision for a more connected spend management experience."
Digitalisation and Innovation - Opportunities and Risks for Financial Health
BIS
"Digital innovation is enhancing access to payments, credit, savings and insurance. But these benefits are emerging alongside new vulnerabilities: a global surge in scams and fraud, greater over indebtedness among some digital borrowers and the use of ill-suited investment products. This highlights the role of financial authorities in enhancing regulatory and supervisory frameworks to mitigate emerging risks, providing public infrastructures and services, and enabling responsible innovation that supports financial health outcomes."
On the wires
MoneyGram Modernizes Retail Solutions Globally, Advancing Unified, Omnichannel Experience
PR Newswire
"MoneyGram announced the global launch of modernized retail solutions, built on Stripe, marking a step forward in its strategy to deliver a unified, omnichannel experience for customers worldwide. Announced at Stripe Sessions in San Francisco, MoneyGram is continuing to modernize one of the world's largest physical payment networks. The launch upgrades its global retail footprint with a modern payments infrastructure and the best point-of-sale technology in the industry."
April 28, 2026
Top Post
Google: We’re Donating Agent Payments Protocol to the FIDO Alliance to Support the Future of Secure, Agentic Payments
"Google: We’re donating the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) to the FIDO Alliance, a renowned industry association focused on creating open standards. Transitioning ownership to the FIDO Alliance ensures AP2 remains platform-agnostic and community-led, while accelerating adoption of secure agentic payments. Today on GitHub, we’re also releasing AP2 v.0.2, which introduces critical updates for autonomous transactions, including “Human Not Present” payments, which will allow agents to securely execute payments autonomously, like securing and purchasing limited-run tickets the moment they’re on sale, based on pre-authorized user instructions.
On the web
FIDO Alliance to Develop Standards for Trusted AI Agent Interactions
FIDO Alliance
"The FIDO Alliance announced initiatives to develop interoperable standards for agentic interactions and commerce. These initiatives include the formation of an Agentic Authentication Technical Working Group and efforts to develop specifications for agent-initiated commerce, drawing from initial contributions from Google (AP2) and Mastercard (Verifiable Intent). The FIDO Alliance’s agentic standards work will be carried out by its members through the newly formed Agentic Authentication Technical Working Group and the Payments Technical Working Group."
Block Launches Bitkey Wallet With Screen, Automatic Bitcoin Earning on Cash App, and Proof of Reserves
Block
"Block announced the launch of a Bitkey hardware wallet with a secure screen, alongside new Cash App features for earning bitcoin automatically, and Proof of Reserves across Block’s corporate treasury bitcoin holdings, and Cash App and Square customer holdings. The screen does more than verify transactions. It's the physical surface through which customers verify and authorize every security-critical operation in the wallet."
Ant International Unveils Protocol to Support AI-Driven Mobile Payments
TNGlobal
"Ant International has introduced a new Agentic Mobile Protocol (AMP) to support the growing agentic commerce. The protocol can integrate digital wallets, banking applications, super apps, and other mobile platforms, extending functionality across devices ranging from smartphones to wearables. Current payment protocols for AI systems are largely built around traditional card networks. Merchants and digital wallet providers are seeking ways to streamline payment experiences, authenticate AI agents, and manage transactions without disruption."
On the wires
Ant International Launches PayTo Payment Solution for Australian SMEs
Business Wire
"Ant International announced an exclusive move to integrate PayTo into its Global Account Service in Australia. This solution enables Australian export SMEs to access a faster, cost-effective, and more secure alternative to account-to-account pull payments. The announcement is a collaboration with global leader in transaction banking, Citi. Citi's role as the initiator sponsor bank provides the foundation for the speed, security, and reliability of this new service."