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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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November 2, 2026
On the web
ACI Worldwide and Circle Collaborate to Bring USDC Settlement to Existing Payments Infrastructure in Latin America
ACI Worldwide
"ACI Worldwide and Circle Internet Group, the issuer of USDC through its regulated entities, announced a collaboration to show how stablecoin settlement can be integrated into existing banking and payment infrastructure. The initiative leverages ACI Connetic, ACI’s cloud-native intelligent payments orchestration platform, and Circle's USDC infrastructure to demonstrate how financial institutions can incorporate stablecoin settlement into existing payment operations."
U.S. Faster Payments Council Releases New Guide to Help Financial Institutions Navigate Non-Value Messaging for Instant Payments
fasterpaymentscouncil.org
"The U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC) announced the publication of Operational Considerations for Non-Value Messages, a guide developed by the FPC Operational Considerations Work Group. The guide provides financial institutions with best practices and considerations for implementing and managing non-value messages that support instant payment transactions. These messages enable functions such as requesting payments, returning funds, exchanging transaction information, and communicating payment status."
The Shopping Bots Are Coming for Amazon
"The biggest U.S. company by revenue has dominated e-commerce, but a potential rival is emerging. [Subscription Required]"
Tencent and Visa Announce Strategic Partnership to Enhance Global Payment and Commerce Experiences Across Tencent’s Ecosystem
Tencent
"Tencent and Visa have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore broader collaboration aimed at enhancing global payment and commerce experiences across Tencent’s ecosystem. The MoU sets out a comprehensive framework for collaboration across cross-border payments, agentic commerce, enterprise AI and support for global business expansion, bringing together Tencent’s payment solutions, digital platforms and technology capabilities with Visa’s global network and cross-border money movement solutions."
Adyen Rolls Out Visa Payment Passkey to Advance the Future of Online Authentication
Adyen
"Adyen announced the roll out of Visa Payment Passkey* (VPP) through Authenticate, a module within its AI-powered payment optimization suite, Adyen Uplift. This integration provides eligible consumers with a simpler way to authenticate online payments using their device unlock method."
Mastercard Signs Partnership with OpenAI. CEO Says Agentic Commerce Is Still in “Early Days.”
Deployed
"Mastercard has signed a broad strategic partnership with OpenAI. CEO Michael Miebach said on the company's Q3 2026 earnings call on October 29, 2026 that the agreement includes the use of Agent Pay, Mastercard's payment product for AI agents, and goes well beyond it, covering payments, joint growth in services, and AI transformation. He said it takes two forms, machine-to-machine transactions and traditional e-commerce, and pointed to B2B card payments and micro-transactions as future opportunities."
On the wires
Tencent and Mastercard Sign MOU on Cross-Border Payment Interoperability and Agentic Payments
PR Newswire
"TenPay Global, Tencent's cross-border payment platform, and Mastercard have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore cross-border payment interoperability and opportunities in agentic payments, the companies announced. The proposed collaboration aims to make cross-border commerce more connected. For international visitors, that means more ways to pay using familiar digital wallets and issuer apps at QR-enabled merchants. For merchants, it creates opportunities to serve international customers."
Thunes and UnionPay International Transform Payments to China's Mainland, Launching High-Capacity Instant Payouts
PR Newswire
"Thunes announced a deepening of its strategic alliance with UnionPay International (UPI), transforming cross-border money movement into China's mainland with bank-grade security and expansive operational scale. Thunes enables Financial Institutions, Payment Service Providers, and Money Transfer Operators to route instant cross-border consumer payouts to UnionPay cards in China's mainland. Key expansion corridors include Africa, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the USA."
October 30, 2026
On the web
Alexa for Shopping Adds 100+ New Capabilities to Make Shopping Even Faster and Easier
Amazon News
"Customers can now manage their lists, registries, Subscribe & Save, payments, memberships, and a broad range of Amazon account actions simply by asking Alexa for Shopping. Over 400 million customers have used Alexa for Shopping in the last 12 months, and the number of customers using Alexa for Shopping’s agentic features has grown more than eight times since the start of the year."
October 29, 2026
On the wires
American Express Connects Cash Back to High Yield Savings Accounts and Business Checking Accounts
Business Wire
"Today, American Express introduced a new way for eligible U.S. Consumer and Business Cash Back Card Members to redeem rewards for a deposit into eligible American Express bank accounts, creating a more integrated experience across their Card and banking products and giving customers more options in how to redeem the rewards they earn."
October 28, 2026
On the web
Bank of America Kindly Asks That You Don’t Share Your Banking Password with Your AI Assistant
TechCrunch
"Financial giant Bank of America is reminding customers to bank safely by kindly not sharing your banking credentials with your AI agent. In an email blast to customers titled 'Protecting your finances in the Al World,' Bank of America urged customers to never share their username and password with another person or an outside service, 'including an Al-enabled tool or agent that offers to act on your behalf.'"
Stripe Launches Free Instant Transfers for Businesses
FinanceFeeds
"Stripe launched Stripe Pay on October 27, a service that lets businesses send free instant transfers to other Stripe users through profile handles rather than traditional bank account details. The product marks the payments company’s most direct move into business-to-business settlement infrastructure and arrives as the largest United States banks develop their own competing instant transfer networks."
Google Wallet Is Working on a New Payment Option for International Travel
Android Authority
"When you’re out exploring the world, the last thing you want to worry about is not being able to pay for things. And while we’re not there quite yet, services like Google Wallet already go a long way towards giving us a universal payment solution. Now we’re getting an early look at how that’s getting even better, as Wallet prepares to offer an all-new way to pay."
October 27, 2026
On the wires
TNS Helps Businesses Increase Payment Acceptance with Smart Routing
Business Wire
"Transaction Network Services (TNS) has enhanced its Payment Orchestration platform with smart routing capabilities that help businesses improve payment performance, optimize transaction costs and maintain greater control over how payments are processed. Designed for unattended and high-volume payment environments, the solution helps operators across parking, EV charging, transportation, vending, retail and other industries route transactions based on business rules, performance signals and provider availability to help maximize approval rates and reduce payment complexity."
From Followers to Founders: Beast Industries and Mastercard Help the Next Generation Own Their Path to Prosperity
Mastercard
"A new collaboration with Beast Industries aims to give creators the tools and support to turn big ideas into sustainable businesses."
October 23, 2026
On the web
Revolut Builds AI Transaction Model for 80 Million Customers
IT Brief UK
"Revolut is rebuilding its technology stack around PRAGMA. PRAGMA runs on NVIDIA-accelerated computing. The system has been engineered to scale threefold as transaction volumes grow. HSBC said it is using Starburst Enterprise's GPU engine to provide near-real-time client insights that support customer processes and on-demand decision-making while reducing risk and fraud. Stripe reported 42 times faster data pipelines and 92% cost savings in offline testing for its Stripe Radar fraud detection platform with GPU-accelerated Ray Data."
Tech Mahindra Acquires Finastra’s Cash Management Product Suite to Strengthen Banking Products Portfolio
Tech Mahindra
"Tech Mahindra has acquired Finastra’s Cash Management product suite, comprising Fusion Cash Management (FCM), Fusion Virtual Accounts (FVA) and Fusion Liquidity Management (FLM). The acquisition further strengthens Tech Mahindra’s Banking Products portfolio and creates an IP-led platform to support growth across cash management, liquidity management, virtual accounts, supply chain finance, cashflow forecasting and adjacent transaction banking opportunities."
BMO CEO Says Don’t Give AI Agents Your Banking Info
CBC
"Bank of Montreal chief executive officer Darryl White says artificial intelligence agents are not to be trusted with personal banking information. Speaking at the Toronto Global Forum, White expressed worry about AI advancing faster than regulations and safeguards for the technology. His remarks follow comments from RBC’s CEO about potentially blocking Meta’s popular Muse AI agent from accessing client data at his bank."
Affirm, Sam's Club Strike Exclusive Buy Now, Pay Later Deal [Video]
Yahoo Finance
"Affirm is teaming up with Walmart's Sam's Club as the retailer's exclusive buy-now, pay-later partner, just weeks before the key holiday shopping season kicks off. Affirm will serve as Sam's Club's exclusive BNPL provider in a multi-year agreement, starting in that role on Sam's Club's website in the coming weeks and rolling out to stores in 2027. Max Levchin, Founder & CEO of Affirm, joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss."
Mastercard Stablecoin Compliance API Targets 60% of Transfers Legacy AML Cannot Trace
Tech Times
"Mastercard unveiled Stablecoin Security: a pre-transaction risk-scoring API that fuses the company's blockchain analytics capabilities with its card-era payment intelligence. Financial institutions that have hesitated to handle stablecoin payments — citing the difficulty of tracing funds through multi-step on-chain paths before a transaction is irreversible — can now integrate the risk score into existing fraud, compliance, and case management workflows via a single API connection."
HSBC RedCoin Launches Today
HSBC
"HSBC RedCoin, the bank’s first stablecoin, will be available from today on PayMe by HSBC. Licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)1, HSBC RedCoin is HKD denominated and underpinned by HSBC’s technology and security capabilities. HSBC RedCoin corresponds with the high standards of financial crime controls that are required by Hong Kong’s Stablecoins Ordinance."
Education: The “Alien” Economics of AI Monetization
Stripe
"Two-thirds of the companies on the Forbes AI 50 list now use some form of usage-based pricing, reflecting AI’s variable costs and unpredictable demand. At the second annual Monetize conference last month, Metronome CEO and Cofounder Scott Woody put it more bluntly: today’s leading companies operate in ways that would seem “alien” to traditional SaaS businesses. These companies are iterating much faster on pricing, prioritizing market share over ARR, and pursuing multiple go-to-market strategies at once."
On the wires
AEON Launches Agentic Checkout V2, Bringing AI-Powered Travel Booking to Travala
PR Newswire
"AEON has launched Agentic Checkout V2. The updated version enables AI agents to search and book hotel stays through Travala, allowing users to delegate an entire travel purchase to an AI agent while managing the funds used for the transaction through an on-chain agent wallet. Agentic Checkout V2 builds on the first version of AEON's Agentic Checkout, which enabled AI agents to autonomously search, shop, and complete purchases across e-commerce platforms such as Shopify."
October 22, 2026
Top Post
Visa Announces Enhanced Capabilities That Can Bring Trust and Control to the Future of Business Payments
Visa
"Visa announced three capabilities across commercial card growth, virtual card security and agentic commerce for commercial payments. The enhanced capabilities include: SESA 2.0, the next generation of Supplier Enablement Spend Analytics. Visa Commercial Fraud Solutions, a suite of capabilities designed to help issuers and businesses apply controls before a payment is approved. A live agentic pilot with BILL and Billtrust that enables trusted AI agents to initiate and help complete approved invoice payments through supplier portals."
On the web
SoFi Launches SoFi Earn (SOFIE), the First and Only National Bank-Issued Tokenized Deposit for Consumers
Sofi
"SoFi Technologies, Inc. announced the launch of SoFi Earn (SOFIE), the first and only national bank-issued tokenized deposit for consumers. SoFi members can earn interest on digital dollars while keeping them ready to use, representing the company’s fifth new crypto offering in a year. SoFi Earn gives consumers a new way to earn while keeping their funds ready for what’s next. Each SOFIE represents $1 held on deposit at SoFi Bank, earning 4.40% APY with funds FDIC-insured up to applicable FDIC limits."
Stripe: Trends from MONEY20/20 2026: The Rise of “Hidden” Financial Services
Stripe
"Onstage at Money20/20 USA this week, Airtm Chief Product Officer Arshi Singh made the case that financial infrastructure works best when customers don’t have to think about it. “If we expect our user to understand the stablecoin infrastructure, then we are not doing our job right,” she said. Making those products easy to use requires enterprises and fintechs to use the right infrastructure behind the scenes. Three trends at Money20/20 showed what that looks like..."
JPM Coin Goes Live on Ethereum, Extending Institutional Finance Reach on Second Public Blockchain
J.P. Morgan
"Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, has brought JPM Coin, J.P. Morgan’s USD-denominated deposit token, to Ethereum, the Layer 1 blockchain network. Available to J.P. Morgan’s institutional clients, the move extends the reach of institutional finance on public blockchain. Large institutions that actively participate in both crypto and real-world-asset (RWA) digital transactions are increasingly looking for native onchain cash solutions from pre-eminent and reputable financial institutions that are interoperable with the deposit-based products they already use."
Schwab and JPMorgan Are Blocking Outside AI Agents as RBC Weighs a Similar Move
Quartz
"Charles Schwab is shutting out unauthorized AI agents that attempt to sign in for its clients, President and CEO Rick Wurster told analysts on Oct. 14, according to The Epoch Times. Wurster said the problem lies with outside agents that borrow a client’s login details to operate within Schwab’s systems and bypass the brokerage’s own safeguards, not with the technology. Schwab plans to let third-party AI models connect through Model Context Protocol servers, which give an AI system defined permissions, according to The Epoch Times."
Mastercard Expands First-Party Trust Program to Help European Merchants from Rising “Friendly” Fraud
Mastercard
"Mastercard announced the expansion of its First-Party Trust program across Europe, to address the growing trend in first-party fraud, often referred to as ‘friendly’ fraud. This occurs when a cardholder disputes a legitimate purchase, either intentionally or because they do not recognize the transaction on their statement."
EPC Launches SCARLET Initiative to Support Consistent Use of EU Digital Identity Wallets
European Payments Council
"Board of the European Payments Council (EPC) approved the start of the development of SCARLET (Strong Customer Authentication [SCA] Acceptance Rulebook and Liability Framework for EUDIW Transactions), a new standardisation framework designed to support the consistent acceptance of EU Digital Identity Wallets by payment service providers (PSPs) in the context of SCA."
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