Join us in New York on September 29-October 1 for our next Payments Boot Camp and Advanced Payments workshop!
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.
Search Payments News
June 30, 2026
Top Post
UnionPay Launches AI Computing Card: Bank Cards Begin Integrating Large Language Models
Moomoo
"China UnionPay, together with Ping An Bank and Tencent Cloud, launched the "AI Intelligent Computing Card." This is a debit card designed for consumers seeking AI‑powered computing power; applications will be available through the Ping An Bank Pocket Bank app. Ping An Bank also plans to launch a co-branded credit card. This card's core benefits consist of access to large‑model token packages, GPU inference hours, and usage rights for AI‑powered office and learning tools."
On the web
Introducing Open USD
Join Open Standard
"Open USD announced a new stablecoin for global money movement. Stablecoins are being rapidly adopted for their speed, cost, and programmability. At the same time, businesses face hurdles: fees to mint and redeem most stablecoins are prohibitively expensive at larger volumes; companies aren’t always able to benefit from the revenues earned on the underlying reserves; and developers have little recourse if the roadmaps of third-party issuers do not meet their needs. Open USD introduces three key design principles..."
Three Years Strong: A Conversation with Nick Stanescu on FedNow® Service Growth, Enhancements, and What Comes Next
Federal Reserve
"Three years in, the FedNow Service continues to build momentum, empower safe and efficient instant payments at scale, and unlock business opportunities for financial institutions of all sizes across the U.S. In this Q&A, we speak with Executive Vice President and Chief FedNow Executive Nick Stanescu about the network’s industry impact and the innovations shaping its next phase of growth."
American Express® Expands Membership Rewards® Points Redemption Opportunities for U.S Card Members Checking Out with Apple Pay®
American Express
"American Express is expanding Membership Rewards® points redemption options for eligible Card Members with the launch of Use Pay with Points with Apple Pay. The feature allows Card Members to redeem points directly within Apple Pay’s easy, secure and private checkout experience online, giving them greater flexibility to use points on everyday purchases."
Visa Highlights Key Role of Smartphones in Global Payment Transactions
Trend
"The company is developing a suite of solutions that simplify both accepting and sending payments, turning smartphones into universal financial transaction tools. Traditional POS terminals remain expensive and not always economically feasible for small retailers. There is a particular focus on reducing barriers to accepting payments through Tap to Phone and Visa Accept technologies, which allow smartphones to be used as fully functional payment terminals. Visa Accept allows for almost instant merchant registration through a banking app, with initial transaction limits set that can be expanded as the business grows."
New Zelle® Research: The Group Chat Is Lit. Settling Up Is Another Story.
Early Warning
"New research from the Zelle Avoidance Economy Report finds that 76% of Gen Z consumers who have fronted money for a group expense, like a trip or event, say they were not fully repaid, and 55% say it created tension or negatively affected a relationship. Nearly half (47%) say they have gone into debt to cover group expenses."
Amazon Offers Agentic Shoppers up to 365 Days of Price History
Chain Store Age
"Amazon is expanding the price history capabilities of its "Alexa for Shopping" solution. Released in May 2026, Alexa for Shopping” combines the personalization capabilities of the next-gen Alexa+ voice model with the functionality of its Rufus agentic AI shopping assistant (which was discontinued as part of the launch) to deliver a targeted shopping experience where customers can browse and shop the full Amazon store using voice, touch, or both. Now Alexa for Shopping shows 30, 90, and 365 days of price history,"
Mastercard Launches Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to Help Secure the Continent’s Digital Future
Mastercard
"Mastercard announced the launch of its Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, a pan-African initiative designed to strengthen cyber resilience, enhance collaboration and help safeguard the trust that underpins Africa's expanding digital economy."
Feedzai Opens $9 Trillion Fraud Intelligence Network
Feedzai
"Feedzai announced the availability of Feedzai IQ Score, an AI-native, network-derived fraud risk scoring solution for banks of all sizes. Feedzai IQ Score marks a fundamental shift in how fraud is detected. Financial institutions today face a growing “Silo and Legacy Paradox,” meaning data used to prevent fraud is restricted to internal sources, and replacing existing end-to-end risk infrastructure can be time consuming and disruptive."
Chargebacks911: 2026 Chargeback Field Report Released
https://chargebacks911.com/chargeback-field-report/
"The 2026 Chargeback Field Report provides a real-world look at chargeback management in the Card-Not-Present Payments Space. Built on a proprietary survey data from more than 250 merchants, the report offers a picture of how charge backs and chargeback abuse are affecting merchants today. We looked at how chargebacks affect different industries, business models, and transaction sizes, with a strong focus on eCommerce."
June 29, 2026
Top Post
Six in Ten UK Consumers Would Stop Using an AI Shopping Agent After One Mistake, ACI Survey Finds
ACI Worldwide
"New research from ACI Worldwide reveals a significant trust gap between artificial intelligence and human decision-makers, highlighting a key barrier to the widespread adoption of AI shopping agents. A YouGov survey of more than 2,000 UK adults, conducted on behalf of ACI Worldwide, found that just 19% of consumers trust AI assistants to follow rules to set up make every day purchasing decisions, compared with 55% who trust a human expert or adviser. Seven in ten (69%) do not trust AI, even when it follows rules they set."
On the web
X Money Rolls Out to More Verified Users and Its 6% Savings Rate Is Just the Opening Move
Startup Fortune
"X Money expanded to a broader pool of verified US users on June 25, 2026, offering 6% APY on FDIC-insured deposits, 3% cashback, and a personalized metal Visa debit card. Built on Cross River Bank's infrastructure, the launch positions X as the most credible American super-app attempt yet, while the verified-user gating addresses a peer-to-peer payments market badly damaged by fraud."
BIS Warns Stablecoins Risk Fragmenting Global Financial System
Trading View
"The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) warned that the rapid expansion of stablecoins risks fragmenting the global monetary system and weakening sovereign monetary control, urging central banks and the financial industry to accelerate the development of tokenized forms of central bank and commercial bank money as a safer alternative."
Why Meta’s Cred Investment Matters for WhatsApp Pay in India
The Economic Times
Meta's substantial investment in Cred and appointing its founder Kunal Shah as global head of WhatsApp signals a major push into India's fintech landscape. For Meta, with Shah at the helm, there is a chance that WhatsApp's position in India, its largest market, will go beyond messaging into payments, commerce, and business services.
UAE Central Bank Licenses Adyen for Expanded Operational Capabilities
Zawya
"Adyen announced that it has obtained its Retail Payment Services Category II license from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). The reaching of this regulatory milestone represents the strategic evolution of Adyen’s established presence in the UAE, beginning in 2020, where it has powered payments for leading brands including Careem, Ellington Properties, Gargash Group, Noon and Ziina."
Huawei and 7-Eleven Thailand Partner to Enhance Smart Wearable Payments and Chinese Tourist Experiences
Yahoo Finance
"Announced during the Huawei Developer Conference, CP All, the operator of 7-Eleven in Thailand, and Huawei signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a strategic partnership to accelerate digital retail innovation. A key highlight of the summit was the successful integration of 7-Eleven's membership code and TrueMoney's payment code into Huawei's wearable devices. Since its launch, this "two-in-one" feature has garnered significant local traction, with a user base already adopting it for daily transactions."
June 26, 2026
Top Post
PayPal CEO Unveils AI Reset, $1.5B Savings Plan at Bernstein Conference
MarketBeat
"PayPal CEO Enrique Lores laid out a broad reset focused on simplifying the company, modernizing its pre-cloud technology stack, and making PayPal more AI-native while shifting more attention back to consumers. The company has reorganized into three core businesses — Checkout, consumer financial services and payment processing — and is now prioritizing sustainable profitability, stronger Venmo monetization, and added value services for Braintree and Checkout rather than pure volume growth."
On the web
Google Opens the Play Store to External Billing in the US, UK, and Europe
9 to 5 Google
"Google announced that it will open up the Play Store to external payments starting on June 30 in the US, UK, and Europe. The new policy sees developers paying 10% fees on their first $1,000,000 in annual earnings regardless of billing method, whether that be Google Play Billing, an alternate built-in system, or external links for billing outside of the app. That’s well down from the 30% cut that was standard when this whole dispute first began."
Jack Henry and Google Cloud Expand Collaboration to Deliver AI-Driven Security for Banks and Credit Unions
Jack Henry
Jack Henry® and Google Cloud announced an expanded collaboration to deliver AI-driven security capabilities for banks and credit unions. Building on their strategic relationship established in 2022, Jack Henry will use Google Cloud's suite of agentic defense products to develop a proprietary AI security platform purpose-built for the financial services ecosystem. This initiative will strengthen cyber resilience for financial institutions and help them defend against emerging threats while improving operational efficiency.
U.S. Bank, Gigsafe Team to Advance Payment Infrastructure for Logistics Industry
U.S. Bank
"U.S. Bank announced a collaboration with GigSafe, a compliance and payments platform built for regulated delivery and logistics operators, to enhance the way workers using GigSafe get paid. GigSafe will leverage to provide customers reliable, transparent and scalable payment workflows designed to support complex contractor networks. The embedded approach allows payments to occur seamlessly within GigSafe’s existing platform, eliminating delays associated with traditional pay cycles and manual payout processes."
Modulr: A New Way to Get Paid: Modulr Adds cVRP to Its Collections Hub
Modulr
"Modulr announced the launch of commercial Variable Recurring Payments (cVRP), designed to offer a flexible, faster alternative to traditional payments for businesses collecting large volumes. This announcement follows the rollout of the scheme by the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI). Modulr has helped shape the scheme from the outset as a UKPI founding shareholder and is delivering cVRP to customers as part of its Collections Hub, which offers unified access to multiple payment methods on one automated platform."
Backbase Acquires Kasisto, Leading the Industry Shift to Agentic Banking
Backbase
"Backbase announced the acquisition of Kasisto, a pioneer in agentic AI for banking and financial services. Kasisto's agentic platform, financial services intelligence, and New York-based team are now part of Backbase and the AI-native Banking OS. Together, Backbase and Kasisto deliver the only AI-native solution built for the full complexity of agentic banking in regulated financial services."
Education: Tokenization: What It Is and How to Think About It
Bank of Canada
"Tokenization has received a lot of attention in recent years as a technology that could revolutionize financial markets and payments. It promises fast settlement, low risk for counterparties and minimal barriers to competition. Yet tokenization is often misunderstood."
June 25, 2026
On the web
The Art of Assessing Customer Intent: Authorized Party Fraud Trends
Federal Reserve
"Fraud deliberately committed by customers, sometimes referred to as first-party fraud, is a growing concern. Fraudulent behavior, such as false claims, misuse of payment channels or money mule activity, may resemble normal behavior. This often makes it difficult for financial institutions to distinguish fraudulent intent from routine activity. As customer intent becomes harder to interpret, a multi-layered approach across the customer lifecycle is essential, starting with onboarding."
Deutsche Bank, Swift and Financial Institutions Worldwide Team up to Deliver a New Era of International Money Transfers to Germany
Business Wire
"Deutsche Bank is among the first financial institutions in the world to go live on a new global initiative transforming the experience for people receiving international transfers. The bank has successfully processed payments from Australia almost instantly, and from Brazil in less than a minute, to give an enhanced experience to senders in those corridors and for clients receiving funds in Germany."
Implementation of Global Regulatory Framework for Cryptoassets and Stablecoins
BIS
"The rapid growth of cryptoasset markets and the increasing integration of stablecoins into financial systems have prompted the Financial Stability Board to take action. In July 2023, the FSB published its global regulatory framework for cryptoasset activities, consisting of high-level recommendations for cryptoasset activities and markets and revised recommendations for global stablecoin arrangements, based on the principle of "same activity, same risk, same regulation"."
Visa Redefines Its Role in Travel With the Global Launch of Visa Destinations
Visa
"Visa announced the launch of Visa Destinations, a passion-led travel platform live in 10 major locations around the world, as the company redefines its role in the rapidly growing experience-driven travel economy. The move marks a strategic expansion of Visa’s role beyond payments, positioning the company at the center of how travelers discover, plan and experience trips."
How South Africa Became Revolut’s First African Market
TechTrendsKE
"In March, British fintech giant Revolut applied for a U.S. national banking charter as part of an ambitious plan to expand its presence across major financial markets. A few months later, the company revealed that South Africa would become its first destination in Africa, with a launch targeted for 2028 pending regulatory approval. The sequence helps answer an increasingly important question: why did Revolut choose South Africa for its first African market?"
June 24, 2026
On the web
CSU Digital Launches U.S. Market Expansion
Business Wire
"CSU Digital is Latin America’s largest independent card processor, managing more than 50 million cards and processing nearly $100 billion in annual transactions. This week, the company announced its U.S. expansion plans. While building its U.S. presence, CSU Digital is also positioning itself as a processing partner for U.S. companies entering Brazil, offering network-ready infrastructure, regulatory navigation and rapid card program launch without requiring proprietary technology investment."
Modern Treasury Partners With Sardine to Help Businesses Detect Fraud Earlier and Reduce Risk at Scale
Modern Treasury
"Modern Treasury announced a partnership with Sardine to enhance transaction monitoring and fraud prevention capabilities for businesses moving money across the U.S. and globally. By integrating Sardine’s real-time monitoring and risk infrastructure, Modern Treasury enhances its ability to help customers identify and stop fraudulent activity more effectively."