PAYMENTS ON FIRE RESOURCE CENTER
Smart thinking for smart payments professionals
Payments On Fire is the industry’s leading resource center for payments professionals. Here, you’ll find the resources and thought leadership that only Glenbrook’s experienced team can provide. Curated news stories, insightful opinion papers, provocative podcasts, and more – it’s all the thinking you need to stay competitive in a dynamic payments world.
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April 3, 2026
The Infrastructure Layer for AI Agents in Institutional Finance
Fireblocks
“We are quickly entering an era where AI agents are executing B2B payments, moving capital, settling transactions, and managing treasury operations autonomously. While the use cases are exciting (think treasury rebalancing, liquidity management, and cross-border payment routing), there’s a gap that the industry is just now starting to uncover: these agents need to be able to move […]
Western Union Completes Acquisition of Singtel’s Dash
The Edge
“Western Union has completed its acquisition of Dash, the Singapore-based mobile wallet owned by Singtel. The deal gives Western Union access to a platform with more than 1.4 million users in Singapore. Launched in 2014, Dash offers payments, remittances, savings, insurance and investment services within a single app. The acquisition marks Western Union’s first wallet […]
April 2, 2026
Global Payment Systems Are Fragmenting. Here’s What the G20 Can Do.
Atlantic Council
“Global payment systems are fragmenting due to market, technological, regulatory, and geopolitical forces, leaving end users with slower, costlier, and less transparent cross-border payments. Geopolitics is a powerful but under addressed driver of fragmentation, as states weaponize payment infrastructure and build rival systems. With the G20 Roadmap’s 2027 deadline approaching, the G20 must shift from […]
March 31, 2026
SWIFT Blockchain Pivot Puts XRP Back in Cross-Border Spotlight
Yahoo Finance
“SWIFT is building blockchain-based cross-border payment infrastructure with more than 40 global banks targeting a live scheme by mid-2026, and the plumbing it is laying quietly positions XRP crypto as an optional liquidity rail inside that network. The mechanism is not a partnership announcement or a headline integration, it runs through Thunes, a payments company […]
March 27, 2026
ISO 20022 Milestone for November 2026: Unstructured Addresses to Be Removed
Swift
“As the global payments community continues its transition to ISO 20022, the new global standard for cross-border payments, a new milestone is on the horizon. 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 […]
March 24, 2026
SWIFT Expands Blockchain Payments With 50+ Banks, Challenging XRP and XLM Use Case
CCN
“Over 50 banks are adopting a new framework designed to make cross-border retail payments faster, more transparent, and predictable. The initiative promises upfront fee transparency, full-value delivery, faster settlement, and end-to-end tracking. Up to 80% of payment delays occur after funds reach the destination bank, something SWIFT aims to fix with this new framework. As SWIFT improves speed, […]
March 19, 2026
Wero Attacks Margins, Visa and Mastercard Protect Rent
Paperjam
“With reduced costs and rapid deployment, Wero is establishing itself as a credible alternative to cards in Europe. Behind this pressure on everyday payments, the bulk of Visa and Mastercard’s profitability is based on cross-border flows, a high value-added segment that European infrastructures do not yet cover. Stablecoins, particularly at Visa, could strengthen this position.”
March 17, 2026
Thunes Brings Stablecoin Payouts to 11,500 Banks via Swift Connectivity, Bridging Traditional Finance and Digital Assets
Thunes
“Thunes unveiled a major breakthrough in cross-border payments by offering its Pay-to-Stablecoin-Wallets solution to banks globally through their existing Swift connectivity. This innovation enables the 11,500 institutions on the Swift network to send real-time payments to more than 500 million stablecoin wallets worldwide, with zero additional integration. Thunes acts as a bridge between the fiat […]
March 16, 2026
Mastercard Move Expands China Connectivity With New Bank of Shanghai Collaboration
Disruption Banking
“Mastercard announced a collaboration between Mastercard Move, its money movement platform, and Bank of Shanghai (BoS) to enable seamless, bi-directional payment flows between China and global markets. As international trade, migration and education continue to grow, people and businesses increasingly rely on fast, predictable and transparent global payments. The integration of BoS into Mastercard Move […]
March 13, 2026
Swift: Transforming Consumer Payments: Banks Roll Out New Framework for Retail Transactions
Swift
“Last year, we announced plans to transform the cross-border payment experience with the launch of a new scheme, designed to ensure consistently fast, predictable and transparent payments worldwide. Thanks to progress in 2026, consumers and small businesses receiving payments across a range of countries, including five of the world’s ten largest remittance markets, will be […]
Education: Demystifying Stablecoins: The Use Cases, the Pegging Mechanism, and the Implications on Financial Market
JPMorgan
“Stablecoins are primarily used as the “cash” or “base asset” for on-chain trading. with emerging use cases in cross-border payments, treasury management, and tokenization – offering faster, lower-cost, and more flexible alternatives to traditional financial services. Stablecoins offer a unique blend of crypto asset benefits and stability through their pegging mechanisms. Whether backed by fiat, crypto, […]
March 12, 2026
Mastercard Move Expands China Connectivity With New Bank of Shanghai Collaboration
Mastercard
“Mastercard announced a collaboration between Mastercard Move, its money movement platform, and Bank of Shanghai (BoS) to enable seamless, bi-directional payment flows between China and global markets. As international trade, migration and education continue to grow, people and businesses increasingly rely on fast, predictable and transparent global payments. The integration of BoS into Mastercard Move streamlines […]
March 11, 2026
Cross-Border Payment Technologies: Innovations and Challenges
BIS
“Cross-border payments (XBP), particularly remittances and retail transactions, remain more costly, slower, less accessible, and less transparent than domestic payments. The continued inefficient XBP arrangements, in contrast to progress made in domestic payments using new technologies and innovative models, reflect that private actors alone cannot overcome the many market failures that hinder XBP.”
March 6, 2026
Education: Why the Payments Industry Needs to Be Rebuilt From the Inside
Entrepreneur
“Traditional payment systems do not actually move money. They move instructions. When someone swipes a card or sends a bank transfer, value does not settle. A message is sent through processors, networks, banks and correspondent banks, each keeping its own ledger and promising to reconcile later. This is why settlement is slow, why cross-border payments […]
March 5, 2026
BNY and SWIFT Launch Blockchain Ledger
Banking Exchange
“BNY has partnered with global financial messaging network SWIFT to develop a blockchain-based ledger designed to enhance cross-border payments and support the settlement of tokenized assets. Rather than replacing existing systems, the initiative will focus on building an interoperable layer designed to complement SWIFT’s established global messaging network.”
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