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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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June 3, 2026
On the web
Mastercard Expands Settlement Capabilities to Include Stablecoin, Intraday, Holiday and Weekend Options
Mastercard
"Mastercard announced plans to expand its settlement capabilities with additional intraday, weekend and holiday card settlement, supporting both fiat currencies and on-chain card settlement using regulated stablecoins. ARQ, CBW Bank, Cross River, Lead Bank and Nuvei are expected to be among the first to support stablecoin settlement optionality in the United States and Latin America, with further expansion planned through 2026."
Revolut Offers Visa and Mastercard with No Visible Card Number as a New Security Feature
NotebookCheck
"The neobank Revolut has rolled out a new security feature in its app. According to an in-app announcement, users ordering a new debit card—whether Visa or Mastercard—will no longer have the card number printed on the physical card. However, it will still be possible to opt for a card with the number printed on it if desired. When paying with this card in public, users no longer risk someone copying the card number, security codes, and expiration date, or filming them with a security camera, smart glasses, or a smartphone. The numberless card thus catches up with Apple Pay and Google Wallet."
2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice Reveals Stable Consumer Preferences amid Technological Change
The Federal Reserve
"Federal Reserve Financial Services recently released the 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice , an annual study of U.S. consumers’ payment habits. The findings show that U.S. consumers’ use of payment methods has remained stable amid technological change and other activity in the payments ecosystem. For the sixth year in a row, cash was the third-most used payment instrument, accounting for about 1 in 7 payments."
Thunes Unlocks Real-Time Payments to the US from the Rest of the World
Thunes
"Thunes announced the launch of real-time payment capabilities into the United States. This expansion unlocks superior global payment capabilities for sending money to the US, combining lightning-fast transaction speeds, optimised cost efficiency, and flexible settlement choices all through a single API. Thunes has established a direct connection into a tier 1 US financial institution to natively support USD payouts via Automated Clearing House (ACH), Same-Day ACH, and real-time payments rails."
On the wires
XTransfer Partners with BBVA
PR Newswire
"XTransfer and BBVA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during Money20/20 Europe 2026 in Amsterdam to deepen cross-border payment infrastructure across Latin America and Europe. Under the MOU, XTransfer and BBVA will combine their respective strengths to explore the delivery of integrated cross-border financial solutions, spanning FX conversion, local payments and cross-border payments across Latin America, Europe and Hong Kong SAR."
June 2, 2026
On the web
Worldline and ING Complete a Live End-to-End European Agentic Payment in Production
Worldline
"Completed between an ING cardholder and a merchant in the Netherlands, the solution operates on the same underlying infrastructure across Belgium and runs across Mastercard network - leveraging their respective secure authentication and authorisation mechanisms. This milestone demonstrates that merchant AI agent-initiated and authenticated payments can function end-to-end, across multiple European markets."
Europe is Building the Foundations for Trusted Agentic Commerce
Mastercard
"Until recently, that experience would break at the moment of payment. Agentic commerce could help people decide, but not actually pay. That is the gap Mastercard Agent Pay is designed to address. In controlled, consent‑based scenarios, consumers can now authorise an AI agent to complete a purchase on their behalf, using credentials they already trust. A year on from announcing Agent Pay, Europe has moved from concept to reality. Today, all Mastercard issuers in Europe are enabled at a network level for Agent Pay."
New York State Department of Financial Services and European Banking Authority Sign MOU to Enable Cross-Border Collaboration on Stablecoin Activity
Department of Financial Services
"The New York State Department of Financial Services announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the European Banking Authority to facilitate the exchange of supervisory and confidential information related to stablecoins. The MOU is intended to enhance the supervision of entities engaged in stablecoin activities, identify market trends and risks, and promote the integrity of the stablecoin market. This MOU relates only to the stablecoin-related activities of supervised entities, and not to other activities that supervised entities may undertake."
Coinbase Powers Stablecoin Acceptance For Checkout.com’s Network of Enterprise Merchants
Coinbase
Checkout.com is launching stablecoin acceptance for eligible merchants in its network of 1,000+ enterprise customers, powered by Coinbase Payments. Consumers can pay in USDC or USDT; merchants continue to settle in USD through Checkout.com's existing rails.
dlocal Launches Stealth B2B Campaign Targeting Global Enterprise Decision-Makers
LBB
"Agency From has launched a targeted B2B campaign for global payments platform dLocal, aimed at engaging decision-makers at major multinational companies as the fintech seeks to expand its client roster across emerging markets. Each ad hinted at its target without ever naming it. And for the people inside those companies, the message was instantly recognisable."
Hey Savi and PayPal Launch UK's First Agentic Commerce Platform with In-App Checkout [Video]
PayPal
"Hey Savi launched UK's first agentic commerce experience with native checkout powered by PayPal. The app is the first of its kind AI-powered, brand agnostic fashion search platform for women, making it easier for shoppers to find, compare and buy must-have styles without leaving the app. Debenhams Group - including the Group brands Debenhams, Karen Millen, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing – is the first retailer in the UK to bring end-to-end AI-powered shopping to UK consumers."
New Paze® Campaign Featuring Banks and Union. No...Seriously. [Video]
Early Warning
"Paze®, the online checkout solution from Early Warning Services, launched “Paze. It Checks Out®,” a new national campaign featuring Elizabeth Banks and Gabrielle Union – two actors whose names are suspiciously on brand. The campaign leans into the pairing with a playful nod to the fact that Paze is offered by participating banks and credit unions nationwide.* The campaign highlights the benefit of Paze: a checkout experience with added security, because consumers’ actual card numbers are never shared with merchants during transactions."
Affirm and Stripe Team up to Power Flexible UK Payments
Affirm Holdings, Inc.
"Affirm and Stripe announced an expanded partnership that will bring Affirm’s pay-over-time solutions to Stripe merchants in the UK for the first time. In July, British businesses using Stripe will be able to add Affirm to their online checkout. The new UK partnership builds on strong momentum in the US and Canada. The companies are also collaborating on the future of AI-powered commerce, with a shared focus on making payments more seamless and transparent as agentic experiences evolve."
On the wires
NMI Acquires Fee Navigator, Adding AI-Powered Pricing Intelligence to Its Embedded Payments Platform
Business Wire
"NMI® announced it has acquired Fee Navigator, a specialist provider of AI-powered pricing intelligence for payments companies. The acquisition builds on NMI’s existing AI capabilities by adding specialist pricing intelligence to its embedded payments platform. Built for ISOs, ISO agents, ISVs and other payments partners, Fee Navigator’s technology analyzes merchant statements and recommends optimized pricing based on partner-defined goals and risk tolerance."
MoneyGram Launches MGUSD, a Stablecoin to Power Its Own Global Network
PR Newswire
MoneyGram announced the launch of MGUSD, a U.S. dollar stablecoin. MGUSD will serve as the connective tissue powering sending money across borders and underserved by traditional finance. Partnerships include: Bridge (a Stripe company) is the regulated, GENIUS Act-ready issuer. MGUSD tokens are minted/burned using M0's smart contract infrastructure and deployed on the Stellar blockchain. MoneyGram holds MGUSD in Fireblocks wallets, which are used to send to customer wallets embedded in the MoneyGram app.
June 1, 2026
Top Post
Mastercard Advances Instant Cross-Border Payments with TIPS Cross-Currency Pilot
Mastercard
"Mastercard announced its participation in a Eurosystem-led pilot, conducted in collaboration with Danmarks Nationalbank and Sveriges Riksbank, on the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) platform, testing instant cross-currency payments (TIPS X-CCY). As part of the pilot, Mastercard Move, the company’s money movement platform, was among the first participants to process transactions using the cross‑currency pilot functionality. Payments were settled atomically between euros and Danish kroner, meaning both currency legs were completed simultaneously,"
On the web
Money Transfer Giant Wise Investigated for Half a Billion in Suspicious Transactions
TBIJ
"Fintech giant Wise is under investigation by prosecutors in Belgium. Hundreds of judicial requests have been submitted from around Europe involving half a billion euros of suspicious transactions. Wise may have failed to comply with anti-money laundering legislation – which is vital in protecting the public from financial crime."
Project Aperta: Enabling Cross-Border Interconnectivity Through Open Finance Interoperability
BIS
"Project Aperta, led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), has been designing, developing and testing a prototype for cross-border open finance interconnectivity via application programming interfaces (APIs) – a "network of networks" that connects existing domestic networks through a neutral interoperability layer. The prototype connects the open finance networks of the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Hong Kong SAR and India."
Enhancing Cross-Border Payments Step by Step: Insights from the 2025 Monitoring Survey
BIS
"Expanded access to payment systems, extended operating hours and interoperability by design form the foundation for enhanced cross-border payment services. The continued adoption of fast payment systems (FPS) has the potential to improve cross-border retail payments, particularly in corridors where links between those FPS are established. Continued international cooperation and technical assistance are crucial for advancing the objectives of the G20 Roadmap."
On the wires
US Payments Forum Expands AI-Fraud Education Efforts Through Podcast and Scam Awareness Resource
GlobeNewswire
"The U.S. Payments Forum announced two new resources to help industry stakeholders better understand how AI is impacting the fraud ecosystem. This includes a new podcast episode, “Machine Learning and Fraud: A Practitioner Perspective,” and a complementary slide deck focused on AI-driven financial scams."
May 29, 2026
Top Post
Visa: Expanding our Long-Term Commitment to Europe
Visa
"Payments are a fundamental foundation of Europe’s economy. Today we are further strengthening our commitment to Europe by announcing several new long-term strategic investments totalling €500m over the coming decade to significantly expand our European presence. At the core of these investments is the establishment of a new data processing centre, based in the Eurozone, to increase the resilience, security and local processing of European payments, always backed up by Visa’s core global payments platform."
On the web
Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0: What Merchants Need to Know
Chargeback Gurus
"In an effort to keep up with the changing landscape of payments and fraud, credit card networks make frequent changes to the rules and policies governing the chargeback process. Most of these changes are relatively minor, but every once in a while they roll out a major update. One major update Visa has implemented is Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0."
How to Survive the Swift ISO 20022 Hybrid Address Translation
RedCompass Labs
"Nearly a third of banks are still working with unstructured customer addresses. The problem extends beyond their own records. Corporate clients, ERP systems, and treasury platforms all need to be aligned before November 2026. There are two areas of impact: Parties (the debtor and creditor) and Agents (the financial institutions in the payment chain). Both will be affected. Banks relying on translation services to convert MT to MX messages face problems come November 2026. MT messages need the right ingredients to be translatable. Get the mix wrong, and the payment fails."
AI-Powered Virtual Assistants Struggle with Complex Tasks in Bank and Credit Card Apps and Websites, JD Power Finds
JD Power
"The nation’s banks and credit card providers are rapidly expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered virtual assistants across their mobile apps and websites, but the technology can sometimes introduce more headaches than solutions. While virtual assistants handle simple, transactional tasks effectively, they struggle to support customers through more complex scenarios, according to a series of recent studies of bank and credit card mobile app and online users, released by JD Power."
TrueLayer Expands Into Credit Following Acquisition of in3
TrueLayer
"TrueLayer, Europe's leading Pay by Bank network, announced the acquisition of in3, a Dutch fintech specialising in consumer credit via bank payments. The deal makes TrueLayer the only Pay by Bank network in Europe to offer both debit and credit at checkout, and means consumers will be able to choose to pay immediately or over time through the same Pay by Bank experience."
May 28, 2026
On the web
ISO 20022 Milestone for November 2026: Unstructured Addresses to Be Removed
Swift
"As the global payments community continues its transition to ISO 20022, a key component of the transition will be the removal of unstructured postal addresses, planned for November 2026 as part of the SR 2026 standards release. The removal of unstructured addresses will improve data quality in cross-border payments. Structured address data allows for greater straight-through processing, more effective compliance screening and enhanced transparency across the payments chain."
World Bank Study Highlights Role of Digital Payments in Expanding Business Finance
TechAfrica News
"A new study by the World Bank has found that the rapid digitalization of payments is fundamentally reshaping access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in developing economies. The report, titled “Firm Credit Constraints and Electronic Payments: A Global Analysis,” shows that digital transaction data is becoming a powerful alternative to traditional financial records, enabling lenders to assess businesses that were previously considered too risky or “data-sparse” to finance."
Alipay Wants AI Agents to Handle Your Payments. But Who’s Really in Control?
TechWire Asia
"AI Wallet is Alipay’s answer to that. Searchable directly within the Alipay app, it lets users manage tasks that AI agents execute before and during payment, and review spending afterwards, a control layer sitting between the user and the agent. Token Pay offers a consolidated solution for global subscription payments, token top-ups within AI agents, and related transaction needs, the kind of payment flows that existing infrastructure wasn’t designed to handle cleanly."
SoFiUSD Becomes the First Stablecoin Issued by a US National Bank to Launch on a Banking Platform
Business Wire
"SoFi Technologies, Inc. announced today that SoFiUSD, a bank-issued U.S. dollar stablecoin, is available for SoFi members to buy, sell, hold, and convert directly within the SoFi app. This marks the first time that a U.S. national bank-issued stablecoin is available directly on a banking app. By expanding SoFiUSD to its nearly 15 million members, SoFi is building the bridge between traditional banking and digital assets."
Ballerine: The Agentic Commerce Readiness Report 2026
Ballerine
"The merchant supply side is not ready, and the scale of the gap is larger than published estimates. Most merchants cannot be reliably verified by an AI agent, most PSPs have not adopted the protocols that make agent transactions safe, and the financial liability that accumulates in between sits in places no one in the payments stack has agreed to own."