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September 10, 2025
On the web
Consumer Checkpoint: Early Wrinkles for Younger Spenders
Bank of America Institute
"Total credit and debit card spending per household increased 1.7% year-over-year (YoY) in August, after a gain of 1.8% YoY in July, according to Bank of America aggregated card data. Seasonally adjusted spending per household rose 0.4% month-over-month (MoM), the third increase in a row. We continue to see stark differences in income and spending growth across income cohorts, with the divergence in after-tax wage and salary growth widening again in August. Spending growth is weakest amongst younger generations and Gen X."
Virtual Card Market on Track to Triple By 2030: Here’s What It Means for Global Travel Commerce
Hotel News Resource
"The financial systems that underpin travel and hospitality have always been intricate. Over the past few years, digital payment innovations have emerged to address challenges, and one in particular is now gaining critical momentum: the virtual credit card (VCC). This design offers two important advantages. First, it sharply limits the potential for fraud. Second, it enables transaction-level control."
September 9, 2025
Top Post
FedNow® Service Will Raise Transaction Limit to $10 Million to Meet Increased Demand, Unlocking Higher-Value Use Cases
Federal Reserve
"The FedNow Service network transaction limit will increase from $1 million to $10 million in response to growing commercial demand, effective November 2025. The increased limit will enable financial institutions and businesses to support higher-value use cases and reflects an increasing need for speed and certainty in the modern payments ecosystem."
On the web
PhonePe, GPay Hit Record UPI Volumes in Aug, but Smaller Apps Eat Into Market Share
CNBCTV 18
"Digital payment leaders PhonePe and Google Pay registered their highest-ever transaction volumes in August 2025, even as their combined market share slipped, highlighting the growing traction of smaller UPI apps and the deepening adoption of merchant payments across categories. PhonePe commanded a market share of about 45.7%, Google Pay another 35.3% and Paytm about 7%. Challengers like Navi, CRED and super.money are steadily expanding their presence."
PCI Council Eyes Wider Data Protection Role Beyond Payments
Computer Weekly
"The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), the body responsible for payment card security standards, is looking to extend its data security standard to protect a wider range of corporate and personal data beyond credit card numbers. In an interview with Computer Weekly, Yew Kuann Cheng, regional vice-president for the PCI SSC, said the organisation is considering feedback from its stakeholders who have called for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to be applied to other kinds of data."
Amazon Pay India CEO Bats for Balanced MDR to Support Stakeholders
Business Standard
"A non-arbitrary merchant discount rate (MDR) on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions should be determined after discussions between the regulator and industry, Amazon Pay India chief executive officer (CEO) Vikas Bansal told Business Standard on Tuesday...The remarks come at a time when the payments industry is closely watching regulatory discussions around MDR on UPI transactions, which have significant implications for the growth and sustainability of digital payments in India."
Paysecure Boost Transparency and Control with Customisable Surcharge Fee Solution
Gambling Insider
"Paysecure, leading payment orchestration platform in iGaming, roll-out customisable surcharge fee solution, built to enhance their dynamic cashier functionality. With this enhanced functionality at Paysecure, operators can define fees according to card details (e.g., credit vs. debit), location, market, currency, payment method, customer segment and more."
2025: Navigating the Cross-Border Payments Evolution
JPMorgan
"To help stay competitive in this ever-evolving economic environment, financial institutions focused on delivering next-level payment experiences must also be nimble. Over the past several years, the cross-border payments landscape has undergone significant changes, which have created shifts that are reshaping business models, technological capabilities and the global money movement. Yet interestingly, despite the uncertainty, cross-border spending continues to grow: from $194.6 trillion in 2024 to a projected $320 trillion by 2032."
AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB Set to Rollout Major New Banking Feature Within Months [Zippay]
MSN
"Irish banking customers are set to see the rollout of a new feature as three major banks will be implementing a new Revolut style service. AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB have said they will launch Zippay, a brand new service that will offer person-to-person mobile payment. It is set to launch in early 2026."
Mastercard Unveils Customizable Decisioning Solution for Financial Institutions
Mastercard
"Mastercard unveiled On-Demand Decisioning (ODD), a new solution that gives financial institutions more control over authorization decisions. It is the first offering of its kind that allows an issuer the ability to define decisioning criteria directly on the Mastercard network — unlocking new opportunities to optimize performance and ensure transaction outcomes are aligned with the financial institution’s consumer experience strategy."
On the wires
dLocal and Western Union Team Up to Power Digital Payments in Latin América
Business Wire
"dLocal and Western Union®, announced a strategic alliance to enable digital payment methods on Western Union's online platforms in Latin America. It incorporates alternative and locally relevant payment methods—such as cards and bank transfers—into the brand’s digital channels across countries like Chile, Mexico, Peru, Panama, Argentina, and Brazil, with strong potential for further regional expansion."
September 8, 2025
On the web
Consumer Protection Has a Robust New Champion — and the Banking Sector Isn’t Ready
Insider Monkey
"New York Attorney General Letitia James has made consumer protection a defining priority of her tenure. Her latest salvo is a lawsuit filed on August 13 against Early Warning Services, a company run by a group of the largest banks in the United States–including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase Bank, and Wells Fargo–that is the parent company of electronic payments platform Zelle. According to the lawsuit brought by the State of New York, the banks making up Early Warning Services rushed to develop Zelle as an alternative to popular payment platforms like Venmo and Paypal–with potentially devastating consequences."
Central Bank Flags Security Gaps in Payment System After Hacks [Brazil]
Valor International
"Brazil’s Central Bank has completed an investigation into the vulnerabilities that enabled three hacker attacks on institutions operating at the core of Pix, the country’s instant payment platform. It is now preparing a set of measures to prevent further criminal incursions. The issues were found in three main areas: payment institutions operating without prior authorization from the Central Bank; weaknesses at IT service providers, known as PSTIs, that connect smaller banks to the payment system; and the use of pooled accounts, where client funds are moved without individual identification."
FIS Builds on Awards Momentum for Treasury Solutions by Launching AI-Powered Neural Treasury Suite
FIS Global
"FIS® announced the launch of FIS Neural Treasury, an AI-powered suite designed to transform how treasury operations utilize technology to run their business and manage their money in motion. The solution suite combines AI, machine learning and robotics to help corporate treasurers in business of various sizes with increasing efficiency, reducing operational risk and unlocking cash flow to help fund strategic growth opportunities."
Fiserv Continues European Growth by Closing Acquisition of AIB Merchant Services
Fiserv, Inc.
"Fiserv, Inc. announced it has completed its acquisition of the remaining 49.9% of AIB Merchant Services (AIBMS), the company’s longstanding joint venture with AIB Group. The acquisition supports Fiserv’s growth in the broader European market, including expanding growth opportunities for Clover, the world’s smartest point-of-sale system, across the region. AIBMS is one of Ireland’s largest payment solution providers and one of Europe’s largest e-commerce acquirers."
On the wires
Nuvei Partners with Early Warning Services to Deliver Paze℠ Online Checkout Solution
PR Newswire
"Nuvei announced a partnership with Early Warning Services, to bring Paze, a fast and convenient online checkout solution available in the U.S., to more merchants and consumers. Through this partnership, Nuvei will integrate Paze checkout into its payments platform, enabling U.S. merchants to offer a streamlined checkout where consumers can checkout using the credit and debit cards they already have with participating financial institutions - without the need to manually enter card details or create a separate account profile at time of checkout."
September 5, 2025
On the web
U.S. Bank Launches All-In-One Cash Flow Management Platform for Small Businesses
Business Wire
"U.S. Bank announced an all-in-one cash flow management platform for small businesses. Providing a comprehensive accounts payable solution with streamlined cash flow management, enhanced bill pay capabilities with industry-leading flexible payment options, and the ability to easily sync with accounting software, it’s all seamlessly integrated into the U.S. Bank online banking platform. The accounts payable solution is called U.S. Bank bill pay for business."
Corporate Cheques in Singdollar to Cease on Jan 1, 2027: What Payment Alternatives Do Businesses Have?
The Straits Times
"Transaction volumes for cheques denominated in Singapore dollars have fallen by approximately 80 per cent from 61 million in 2016 to less than 14 million in 2023, alongside growing adoption of e-payments by both individuals and businesses. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced in 2023 that corporate cheques denominated in Singapore dollars would be discontinued. From Jan 1, 2026, banks will stop issuing new cheque books to businesses, and by Jan 1, 2027, the processing of corporate cheques will cease completely."
Another Risk From Agentic AI Payments - First-Party Fraud [Video]
BankInfoSecurity
"The rise of agentic commerce is forcing the financial sector to reconsider traditional fraud controls. While automated transactions may follow all technical authorizations, agentic AI tools still lack an understanding of user intent. That disconnect could lead to a surge in first-party fraud, warned Cleber Martins, head of payments intelligence and risk solutions at ACI Worldwide."
UPI Payments: Higher Transaction Limits For Select Merchants Starting Sept 15
MSN
"The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has raised the UPI transaction limit to Rs 5 lakh for select categories linked to tax payments, starting September 15, 2025. This update will allow verified merchants in these categories to handle bigger payments seamlessly, reflecting the growing reliance on UPI as India’s go-to digital payment mode."
Visa Launches Mobile Payments Platform in DRC
IBS Intelligence
"Visa has launched Visa Pay, a next-generation mobile payments solution designed to expand access to secure, interoperable, and seamless money movement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Developed as a mobile-first platform, Visa Pay enables consumers and businesses to pay, get paid, and move money across bank and mobile ecosystems, offering account-to-account transfers in both Congolese francs (CDF) and US dollars."
On the wires
In Lithuania, the Digital Euro Is No Longer Theory — It’s Infrastructure
Reuters
"With legislative groundwork nearly complete and prototypes in development, Lithuania is emerging as one of the most prepared — and most motivated — backers of the digital euro: a central bank digital currency (CBDC) designed to complement cash, operate offline, and offer a pan-European alternative to Visa, Mastercard, and Big Tech."
September 4, 2025
On the web
Project Keystone: Unlocking Data Analytics for ISO 20022 Payments
BIS
"Project Keystone developed a standardised data analytics platform focused on ISO 20022 data. As part of the project, two modules have been developed. The first addressed the complexities of handling the ISO 20022 data structure and the associated data storage requirements, while the second provided analysis based on the data. Keystone could become an off-the-shelf component that payment system operators could integrate into their own systems to unlock the value of the richer payments data."
Visa Advances Agentic Commerce with MCP Server, Acceptance Agent Toolkit
Visa
"Artificial intelligence, generative AI, large language models (LLMs) and machine learning have transformed our world, processing massive amounts of data and creating magical experiences at an unprecedented rate. Today, we’re announcing important ways we’re expanding Visa Intelligent Commerce and bringing new agentic commerce experiences to clients, partners and consumers faster: Introducing our Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server for Visa Intelligent Commerce and Piloting the Visa Acceptance Agent Toolkit:"
Fiserv Expands Clover Offerings for Hospitality with CardFree Acquisition
Fiserv, Inc.
"Fiserv, Inc. announced it has acquired CardFree, an all-in-one platform empowering merchants with customized order, pay, and loyalty solutions. This transaction enhances the capabilities of Clover® to support small businesses as they grow into larger, multi-location merchants with complex technical needs. CardFree’s platform will be fully integrated into both the Clover and Commerce Hub ecosystems, adding capabilities such as drive-through software, kiosk and sub-inventory enablement, and providing third-party software integration support in loyalty, delivery services, and property management."
Introducing Tempo, the Payments-First Blockchain [Stripe & Paradigm]
Tempo
"Tempo is a payments-first blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm. Tempo is purpose-built for stablecoins and real-world payments, born from Stripe’s experience in global payments and Paradigm’s expertise in crypto. To ensure Tempo serves a broad array of needs, we’re excited to be working with a group of initial design partners, including: Anthropic, Coupang, Deutsche Bank, DoorDash, Lead Bank, Mercury, Nubank, OpenAI, Revolut, Shopify, Standard Chartered, Visa, and more."
What’s New With New Account Fraud?
Federal Reserve
"In today’s digitized world, financial institutions may have many reasons to encourage customers to open accounts electronically. The digital onboarding process, whether online or in-app, typically is more convenient than in-person onboarding. However, without appropriate fraud detection or controls in place, digital account opening can expose financial institutions to numerous opportunities for criminals."
JPMorganChase, Ant Team for Real-Time ‘On-chain’ Asian Payments
American Banker
"Chinese technology giant Ant International has completed a nearly instant U.S. dollar to euro foreign exchange payment in Asia through JPMorganChase's blockchain unit, giving a boost to efforts to enable international interoperability for real-time payments." [Subscription Required]
On the wires
Airwallex to Introduce Billing Capabilities via OpenPay Acquisition, Empowering Customers to Unlock and Automate Revenue Growth
Business Wire
"Airwallex announced the acquisition of OpenPay, a San Francisco-based billing platform that offers subscription management, payment orchestration, and revenue analytics. The acquisition will bring OpenPay’s billing and analytics capabilities into Airwallex's global platform, strengthening Airwallex’s position against other players like Stripe Billing and Recurly, and empowering Airwallex customers to unlock and automate revenue growth."
Extending the Reach of Zelle®: Alacriti and Early Warning Join Forces
PRWeb
"Alacriti, a leading provider of cloud-native money movement services for banks and credit unions, today announced a new partnership with Early Warning Services, LLC, the company behind Zelle®. Zelle will be embedded in Alacriti's Orbipay Payments Hub, an all-in-one payments platform that provides financial institutions with all the tools, services, and technology infrastructure they need to quickly enable Zelle for consumers, small businesses, and commercial clients."
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