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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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October 23, 2026
On the web
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."
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."
October 21, 2026
Top Post
While Amazon Blocks AI Agents, Walmart Rolls Out the Welcome Mat
TechCrunch
"Walmart is embracing agentic commerce with the launch of its own Agent Gateway to manage transactions and other new features aimed at customers using AI agents, the retailer announced on Wednesday. The move comes shortly after Walmart’s top competitor, Amazon, began blocking AI agents from making purchases on behalf of online shoppers. Walmart, on the other hand, had already announced a partnership with a leading agent in the space, Meta’s Muse, and offers integrations with popular AI apps like ChatGPT, Gemini, and others."
On the web
Mastercard Max Makes Benefits Easy to Discover, Understand and Use
Mastercard
"Mastercard is introducing Mastercard Max, a new AI-powered benefits assistant that helps people get more value from the cards they carry. Cardholders no longer need to search for benefits on their own – Mastercard Max surfaces relevant benefits, provides timely guidance and helps them take action in the moments that matter most, all in one place and through the issuer’s direct channel."
Bank of America: Quantum Dictionary, Part 1: Decoding the Fundamentals
Bank of America
"What is quantum computing? How does it work? What is a qubit? And when will quantum reach its full potential? Quantumcomputing challenges our intuition and our understanding of what computers can do. In this two-part dictionary series, wedecode key terms behind what could be the next major technological revolution."
Interswitch Group Leads Nigeria’s Tokenization Charge, Mobilizing Issuers, Schemes & Merchants to Make Tap-to-Pay the New Default for Digital Payments
This Day Live
"Interswitch Group, a leading African integrated payments and digital commerce company, is at the forefront of pioneering tokenization infrastructure and enablement, supporting multiple banks, financial institutions and card schemes as they bring tokenized payments to merchants and customers in Nigeria and across key African markets, including Kenya and Uganda. Tokenization, which is more popularly described as ‘tap-to-pay’ replaces sensitive payment details, such as a card number, with a substitute code, or token, for use in a transaction."
Google Says Services Are Recovering After U.K. Cloud Outage Hits Businesses
WSJ
"Google said services were recovering after a cloud outage on Tuesday disrupted online services for several U.K. banks and other businesses." [Subscription Required]
Sierra and Stripe Let AI Agents Take Card Payments During Calls
TNW | Artificial-intelligence
"Sierra has partnered with Stripe so its agents can take card payments during phone calls. Customers type their card number on the keypad and the data goes straight to Stripe. Healthcare billing firm Cedar is an early user. With the new setup, the agent switches into a secure mode, and the caller types their card number on the keypad. The details go straight to Stripe, and the agent then confirms the payment and carries on the call. The agent itself never sees the card details, only the payment status and the last four digits"
PPRO launches Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce
PPRO
"PPRO has launched the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce alongside founding members BLIK, EPI, Bancontact Company, and DIAS, with other payment schemes committed to joining. The new industry initiative brings the local payments community together to align the rapidly developing agentic commerce ecosystem with how consumers prefer to pay across global markets."
How Is Visa Turning Crypto And AI Payments Into Real World Use?
Yahoo Finance
"Visa operates a global payment network that connects banks, merchants, and consumers, so plugging crypto wallets and AI tools into that infrastructure directly affects how money moves through its system. For investors, these projects show how a mature payments platform experiments with new rails and automation while still rooted in its core transaction network."
Capital One Advances Discover Network Plans
The Asian Banker
"Capital One outlined plans to increase credit card spending on Discover’s network through Discover-branded cards, new Capital One cards and conversions of existing accounts. Chief executive Richard Fairbank said the bank was testing which customers and products to move and when. Credit migration would be gradual, accompanied by investment in global merchant acceptance."
Competing Rails for Crossborder Payments: Banks, Fintechs, and Stablecoins
Bank for International Settlements
"The paper focuses on the costs of cross-border payments across three payment channels: traditional banks, fintech money transfer operators (MTOs) and stablecoin-based transfers. There are three sets of findings. First, fintech money transfer operators (MTOs) substantially reduce cross-border payment costs relative to traditional retail bank wires. In our small sample of bank transactions, FX markups range from approximately 2 to 4.7%, even for highly liquid currencies and before accounting for explicit wire fees."
Genius Act Factored Into Samsung Stablecoin Move, Solana Foundation Exec Says
Yahoo Finance
"Samsung's plan to put stablecoin transfers into the wallet app already sitting on 82 million Galaxy phones did not come together overnight. According to Lu Yin, head of APAC at the Solana Foundation, the deal was years in the making. The announcement came on Oct. 7. Samsung Wallet will support cross-border USDC transfers beginning the last week of October, letting eligible U.S. Galaxy users send dollars to compatible crypto wallets in seconds with no transfer fees, or to eligible bank accounts in more than 60 countries."
Checkout.com Expands Into In-Person Payments as Merchant Demand Drives Next Phase of Growth
Checkout
"Checkout.com announced its expansion into in-person payments, in response to significant demand from enterprise merchants seeking the performance and resilience of its online acquiring platform in stores. Mollie, the European payments platform is working with Checkout.com on its in-person payments offering, leveraging its expertise, terminal knowledge and hardware with Checkout.com's acquiring platform."
October 20, 2026
Top Post
Mesh and Visa Partner to Make Stablecoin and Crypto Balances Spendable Across 175 Million Merchants
PR Newswire
"Mesh, the leading crypto payments network, announced a strategic partnership with Visa to make crypto and stablecoin balances spendable across Visa's global acceptance network. The first-of-its-kind collaboration combines Visa's global acceptance network with Mesh's orchestration infrastructure, enabling consumers to pay in-store and online directly from the balances they already hold in their wallet apps."
On the web
Evervault Launches Browser Tokens, Enabling Secure Agentic Payments
Business Wire
"Evervault announced the launch of Browser Tokens, giving developers building agentic commerce products a secure way for AI agents and browser automations to make purchases, log in to accounts and complete sensitive online workflows without exposing payment cards, passwords or personal data to the agent or browser provider. Browser Tokens replace sensitive values with short-lived, format-preserving tokens. Agents and browser platforms interact only with those tokens."
Euronet and Fireblocks Power the Next Era of Mainstream Payments with Stablecoin-Funded Card Issuing
Euronet
"Euronet and Fireblocks announced an extension of their partnership to bring stablecoins into card issuing. Under the expanded collaboration, banks, fintechs and other financial institutions can seamlessly launch their own stablecoin-funded card programs on Euronet’s Ren and CoreCard issuing platforms, with Fireblocks providing the embedded wallet infrastructure that holds and moves the underlying stablecoin balances, bridging the gap between traditional fiat networks and the digital asset ecosystem."
Newline™ by Fifth Third and Visa Enable Fintechs to Offer Visa® Corporate Cards in Over 40 Countries
53
"Newline™ by Fifth Third, in partnership with Visa®, announced that eligible fintechs can offer Visa corporate cards for approved business use cases in over 40 countries through Visa's Multinational Program. That’s more countries than any other bank issuing cards in the program. Availability is subject to applicable client, program, country, regulatory, financial crimes and sanctions requirements."
On the wires
Boost Payment Solutions Expands Global B2B Payments Capabilities with Airwallex
PR Newswire
"Boost Payment Solutions announced a commercial partnership with Airwallex, the AI native financial operating system for modern businesses, to further enhance its international commercial card processing capabilities. The collaboration will help Boost streamline supplier onboarding and simplify cross-border payment processing. Boost has built a global proprietary B2B payments platform designed to help businesses send and receive commercial card payments globally with greater efficiency, visibility and control."
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