Companies Industry

Visa Lowers Interchange Fees for Tens of Thousands of Small Businesses, But New Credit Card Fees Are on the Horizon [Canada]

PR Newswire

"More small businesses will pay lower credit card processing fees when new Visa interchange rates take effect on October 24. In an agreement with the federal government, Visa and Mastercard lowered interchange fees for small businesses with sales under $300,000 for Visa and $175,000 for Mastercard. Visa is expanding its small merchant interchange rate to firms with up to $750,000 in annual Visa sales and lowering rates for all qualifying businesses. Mastercard's threshold remains at $175,000."

Tags: Mastercard Visa

Companies Industry

In-Vehicle Toll Payment Pilot Program (North Carolina)

NCDOT

"The N.C. Turnpike Authority is partnering with Volvo Car USA, Mastercard, Microsoft, RedHat and Cognizant to pilot an in-vehicle toll payment system in North Carolina. This pilot program will enable enrolled Volvo car owners to link their car’s vehicle identification number to a payment method, allowing automatic payments to be processed as soon as the customer’s car drives through a tolled section of roadway."

Tags: Mastercard Microsoft Volvo

Industry

How Restaurant POS and Ordering Data Reveal Generational Customer Patterns

SmartData Collective

"A modern restaurant order taking system captures behavioral telemetry on every transaction, showing operators how different generations actually navigate digital menus by measuring ticket size, modifier depth, and screen-to-payment dwell times. Digital ordering has become a routine part of restaurants and coffee shops. Yet customers do not all approach self-service kiosks or mobile apps in the same way. Age can influence familiarity with technology, but generation alone does not determine behavior."

Industry

FSB Warns of Stablecoin, AI Risks Ahead of G20 Meeting

Traders Union

"FSB Chair Andrew Bailey urges G20 members to address cross-border gaps in stablecoin oversight and adopt new AI risk management practices in the financial sector. FSB report warns a stablecoin run could trigger forced sales of reserve assets and bank deposit withdrawals, spreading stress to traditional financial markets. FSB highlights AI-driven cyber threats and volatility risks, emphasizing that only 11 of 28 jurisdictions have finalized stablecoin regulatory frameworks as of its 2025 review."

Industry

Meta Discusses Protocols for Agentic Commerce

Social Media Today

"If agentic commerce takes off, and more transactional activity is undertaken by bots instead of human users, that could upend the entire web commerce model. It could erode direct connection between brands and their customers, remove upselling opportunities or even kill off the website display ads model. If humans are no longer the audience, that changes the whole paradigm, and businesses could end up losing out. This is another reason some companies have chosen to block AI agents."

Industry

How AI Agents Could Reshape Retail as Stores Move Beyond Sales

ING THINK

"Chinese platforms such as Alibaba and JD.com lead the way, with AI agents already deeply integrated into their respective platform networks. These agents can not only provide product recommendations but also complete purchases autonomously. Meanwhile, US technology companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic are investing heavily in the development and rollout of AI agents, intensifying the global race for leadership in this emerging market. How will physical store evolve in an AI-driven landscape?..."

Industry

Bank of North Dakota Announces Stablecoin Pilot Program with Local Partners

North Dakota Monitor

"The Bank of North Dakota announced it has launched a pilot program for its Roughrider Coin. Four local banks and credit unions are using the state’s unique banking model, led by the Bank of North Dakota, to learn about possible benefits and pitfalls of the stablecoin financial technology. Fiserv, a Fortune 500 technology company that already provides services for the Bank of North Dakota, is also part of the partnership."

Industry

Sibos Wrap-up Day 4: Is Global Settlement Alignment Actually Achievable? [Video]

Global Custodian

"Global Custodian is joined for its final Sibos wrap-up by representatives from BNP Paribas, Chainlink and Deutsche Bank to discuss the race towards global settlement alignment and how tokenisation could help bridge the gaps."

Industry

ICBA Sues OCC Over National Trust Bank Charters for Crypto Firms

ICBA

"Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey issued a statement on the lawsuit filed n the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for authorizing novel entities primarily dealing in cryptocurrencies to enter the banking system without being subject to the same rigorous regulatory framework or safeguards as community banks."

Industry

Why Retailers Are Divided Over AI Shopping Agents

Marketing Tech News

"Retailers are taking different approaches to AI shopping agents as platforms such as Meta, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI move product discovery and checkout into conversational interfaces. Meta has announced plans to add Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, American Eagle Outfitters....as shopping connectors for Muse, its personal AI agent. The different approaches center on how much of the shopping journey retailers are willing to hand to external AI platforms."

Industry

Banks Will Soon Face the Dark Side of AI

Reuters

".....The biggest area of attack is deposits. Banks still make a lot of money simply by taking in cash, often in the form of low-yield checking accounts, and ​investing it in securities or stashing it at the central bank. AI could change that. Customers could ask an agent, like Meta Platforms' personal assistant Muse, to work out how much liquidity they really need and shift everything else to high-yield savings accounts, money-market funds ​and the like. It would be like every individual having their own corporate treasurer."

Industry

Treasury’s First GENIUS Act Rule Draws a $10 Billion Line Through the Stablecoin Market [Video]

Yahoo Finance

"The Treasury Department has broken the regulatory silence surrounding the GENIUS Act. The core of the rule is the $10 billion threshold. Issuers with consolidated total outstanding issuance of $10 billion or less may opt for state regulation, provided their home state's regime passes the SCRC's "substantially similar" test. Issuers exceeding that $10 billion cap are excluded from the state pathway and must transition to the federal framework within 360 days, unless they secure a specific waiver.  Tether and Circle are well above the $10 billion mark and are barred from the state-level route."

Industry

Sibos Wrap-up Day 3: Corporate Actions – Fixing Fragmentation Before Automating It

Global Custodian

"Global Custodian is joined by representatives from DTCC, Brown Brothers Harriman and Chainlink for the third Sibos 2026 daily wrap-up, discussing the challenges of fragmented corporate actions and post-trade processes, and whether the industry can standardise before turning to automation and AI."

Industry

EU Probes Candy Crush, Minecraft Creators over In-Game Payments

Silicon Republic

"Consumer protection watchdogs in Europe have launched an investigation into the companies behind popular online games – including the creators of Candy Crush, Minecraft and Clash of Clans – over how they price and operate in-game transactions. The probe was launched after talks between the European Commission’s Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network and groups representing the interests of video game makers failed to bring better transparency around the use of in-game currencies."

Industry

Sibos Wrap-up Day 1: Tokenisation Takes Centre Stage [Video]

Global Custodian

"Global Custodian is joined by representatives from BNP Paribas, Chainlink and Standard Chartered for the first Sibos 2026 daily wrap-up, discussing the latest developments in tokenisation, the opportunities it presents and the challenges still standing in the way of wider adoption."

Companies Industry

Sibos Wrap-up Day 2: How Agentic AI Is Reshaping Custody [Video]

Global Custodian

"Global Custodian is joined by representatives from Chainlink, JP Morgan and GLEIF to discuss how agentic AI is already transforming custody and asset servicing, from automating queries and document processing to resolving exceptions and enabling AI agents to interact with financial assets."

Tags: Sibos

Industry

Coinbase Launches Fixed-Rate Bitcoin-Backed Loans Via Morpho Midnight

Bitcoin News

"Coinbase has launched a new fixed-rate loan product that lets customers borrow USDC using bitcoin as collateral. The new service gives borrowers something Coinbase’s existing bitcoin-backed loans do not: a fixed interest rate and a fixed repayment date. The loans are powered by Morpho Midnight, a lending protocol designed for fixed-rate and fixed-term digital asset loans."

Industry

Global Banks Call for Clearer AI Agent Liability Processes

TechInformed

"Six banks are calling for clearer dispute processes and liability allocation in agentic commerce as AI agents are given greater authority to complete purchases. In their “Building Trust in Agentic Commerce” principles paper, the banks say liability can become unclear when an AI agent exceeds the authority a customer gave it. The banks said agentic commerce has already moved from closed trials into live pilots and early scaling while standards, policies and consumer protections remain under development."

Companies Industry

Open USD Stablecoin Goes Live as Stripe, Visa and Mastercard Open It to Businesses

Unchained

"Open USD (OUSD), the dollar stablecoin backed by Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa, went live on Wednesday. Businesses can start building with OUSD through Mastercard, Stripe and the Visa Stablecoin Platform now, with Coinbase access beginning Oct. 1. The token runs natively on Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo, and will first be available to trade on Coinbase, Kraken and Uniswap. OUSD is issued by Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm Stripe owns."

Industry

Sumsub Launches Apac Agentic AI Council on Governance and Agent Identity

TNGlobal

"Compliance technology company Sumsub has launched an Asia-Pacific Agentic AI Council, a cross-sector forum intended to develop practical guidance for organizations deploying autonomous AI systems. The council’s work is organized around three pillars: Adopt, covering where AI agents create value and the conditions for deployment; Build, covering technical foundations such as agent identity, secure architecture and interoperability; and Govern, covering accountability mechanisms and practical governance frameworks."

Companies Industry

Thousands of Banks Can Now Sue Over Apple Pay Fees in One Antitrust Case

AppleInsider

"U.S. banks and credit unions can pursue their Apple Pay fee claims together after a federal judge certified their antitrust lawsuit as a class action. The financial institutions accuse Apple of blocking competing tap-to-pay wallets on iPhone while charging card issuers fees for transactions. They argue Apple could impose fees because rival wallets couldn't compete for payments on the iPhone. Card issuers pay Apple 0.15% of the value of credit card purchases through Apple Pay and half a cent for each debit transaction, according to the lawsuit."

Companies Industry

Quant: What the Clearing House Mandate Really Means

CryptoTicker

"The Clearing House selected Quant as technology partner for tokenised deposits backed by 25 large US banks. Quant supplies the layer for interoperability, orchestration and transaction management for a new network through which financial institutions can clear and settle tokenised deposits. Connection to the existing RTP and CHIPS payment systems is explicitly part of it. Overledger is Quant's operating system for enterprises. It works as a programming interface that connects various public and private blockchains with classic banking systems."

Tags: Quant The Clearing House (TCH)

Industry

AptPay Expands Its iGaming Payment Infrastructure With Direct Visa Connectivity and a New Way for Players to Receive Funds in Real-Time1

Business Wire

"AptPay, a payment technology company specializing in payment orchestration, announced plans to integrate directly with Visa Direct, expanding AptPay’s card payout capabilities and introducing Visa Direct Alias, a U.S.-only service currently in pilot, to its growing money movement platform. The direct Visa integration expands that infrastructure by enabling Visa Direct for Card to support real-time payouts to eligible Visa cards."

Global Industry

UK Banks Complete First Live Customer Transactions Using Tokenised Sterling Deposits

UK Finance

"UK banks have collaborated to complete the first live customer transactions using tokenised sterling deposits. The transactions were delivered through the Great British Tokenised Deposit (GBTD) initiative, which was convened by UK Finance and involves Barclays, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander. The first set of transactions included: Two remortgage completions and  a consumer ‘marketplace’ transaction: The transactions were executed on the GBTD platform, developed by Quant."

Tags: UK

Industry

Education: Tokenized Deposit Networks: A Practical Guide for the Banking C-Suite in 2026

Banking Exchange

"Strategic interest in tokenized deposits surged in 2026, following huge interest in stablecoins in 2025. The rise of payment stablecoins and the bipartisan passage of the GENIUS Act in July 2025 naturally led financial institutions to seek digital dollars they could keep on their own balance sheet and use for lending in the fractional reserve banking system. Recent regulatory clarity has helped. On April 9, 2026, the FDIC proposed a rule confirming that a tokenized deposit is treated exactly the same as the deposit sitting in a bank’s core today."

Global Industry

BRICS Drops Common Currency Plan and Pivots to Integrated Payment System to Cut Dollar Reliance

Yahoo Finance

"BRICS leaders ended their 2026 summit without a proposal for a common currency, instead backing greater interoperability between national payment systems and more settlement in local currencies.  BRICS Pay and potential CBDC links could create cross-border payment routes that reduce reliance on the dollar without requiring an entirely new currency.  The strategy targets some of the same problems addressed by FedNow, XRP, and Stellar, but there is currently no evidence that BRICS plans to integrate XRP or XLM."

Tags: BRICS

Global Industry

New Requirements Accelerated for UK Consumer Subscription Contracts

Latham & Watkins

"Multinational consumer-facing businesses are subject to a global patchwork of consumer protection laws and regulations, all of which create a complex regulatory landscape. Requirements around consumer subscription contracts are rapidly evolving and increasingly divergent across national regimes. Businesses offering subscriptions to UK consumers must prepare for new requirements related to transparency, reminders, cooling-off periods, and cancellation rights from January 2027."

Tags: UK

Companies Industry

Global Banks Collaborate on Principles for Trusted Agentic Commerce

Bank of America

"ASB Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ING Group and NatWest Group unite to publish a set of joint principles as agentic commerce is poised to reshape the future of payments. The principles are designed to help guide the development of agentic commerce while supporting wider industry collaboration. Publication of this paper builds on a wider conversation, with the consortium inviting participants across the ecosystem to apply the principles in practice and shape future implementation."

Tags: Bank of America Commonwealth Bank of Australia ING Group NatWest

Industry

Tokenized Deposits and Stablecoins: How Banks Can Compete on Payment Orchestration

Oracle

"Banks are making decisions about how tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins will fit into their payments businesses. The implications for deposit funding, customer access, and settlement differ. Those differences become important when a payment crosses from one institution to another. The answer affects where banks hold liquidity, how they settle obligations, and what services they can offer corporate clients. Recent U.S. initiatives bring the issue into focus...."

Industry

Conference of State Bank Supervisors Issues Framework for AI

Financial Regulation News

"The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has released a new supervisory resource about using artificial intelligence.   The new framework will help state examiners assess the uses of and risks of AI at state-chartered banks and state-licensed nonbank financial institutions, and provide clarity to financial institutions about what a state examiner may request in reference to an institution’s AI-based products, services and tools."