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.

February 17, 2026

Merchant Steering of Consumer Payment Choice

Atlanta Federal Reserve

“This paper investigates the degree to which merchants influence consumers’ choice of how they pay for transactions. Using data from the Survey and Diary of Consumer Payments Choice, we examine consumers’ adherence to their preferred payment method when making in-person transactions. We also investigate whether merchants are able to steer consumers away from their preferred […]

Mastercard Completes Fully Authenticated Agentic Commerce Transaction in India

VARINDIA

“Mastercard announced the completion of a fully authenticated agentic commerce transaction on its payment network expanding the company’s global payment capabilities into the Asia Pacific region. Cards issued by Axis Bank and RBL Bank were used to complete the transaction. The purchase was processed through payment aggregators including Cashfree Payments, Juspay, PayU and Razorpay. Merchant […]

February 13, 2026

Stablecoin Usage Statistics 2026: Explosive Growth

SQ Magazine

“Stablecoins have emerged as a cornerstone of digital finance, blending the speed and accessibility of blockchain with the stability of fiat currencies. Stablecoin transaction volumes reached unprecedented heights, with on-chain activity underscoring their expanding role across global markets. Corporations are using stablecoins to settle cross-border payments instantly, reducing costs and delays vs traditional banking rails. […]

February 6, 2026

PhonePe Takes Its Diversification to Dalal Street

The Economic Times

“For most users, PhonePe remains a payments app. As the Walmart-backed fintech prepares for a public listing, its UDRHP filed last month outlines a company that is expanding beyond payments, using UPI primarily as a distribution layer rather than a revenue engine. More notably, growth is increasingly being driven by businesses that sit on top […]

February 4, 2026

Mastercard Launches Fleet: Next Gen to Streamline Fleet Payments in Apac

Asian Banking & Finance

“Mastercard has launched Mastercard Fleet: Next Gen, a portfolio of new solutions for car fleet management and logistics operations. It offers global acceptance across millions of locations, including fuel, electric vehicle (EV) charging, maintenance, tolling, and ancillary fleet speed, according to a press release on 4 February 2026. Mastercard promises smarter authorisation controls and spend policies […]

January 30, 2026

Payfinia and Deluxe Partner to Enable Paze® for ISVs, Embedding Payments Across Issuer and Merchant Ecosystems

Business Wire

“Payfinia, an independent payment services firm providing an open payments framework, announced a new partnership with Deluxe, a trusted Payments and Data company serving millions of small businesses and financial institutions. Together, the organizations are expanding access to Paze®, a digital wallet and online checkout experience developed by Early Warning Services and offered by leading U.S. financial […]

January 12, 2026

Checkout.com Secures Georgia Banking Charter Milestone, Accelerating U.S. Investment to Win the Enterprise Digital Payments Market

PR Newswire

“Checkout.com’s application for a Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter was accepted by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. The charter will enable greater control, deliver improved digital payments performance for enterprise merchants, and allow Checkout.com to double down on US expansion plans.”

January 8, 2026

PayPal Powers Microsoft’s Launch of Copilot Checkout

PayPal

“PayPal announced that they are teaming up with Microsoft to support the launch of Copilot Checkout in Copilot, enabling shoppers to discover, decide, and pay—without ever leaving the Copilot experience. PayPal will power surfacing merchant inventory, branded checkout, guest checkout and credit card payments, starting with Copilot.com. Merchants’ product catalogs will seamlessly become purchasable leveraging […]

January 7, 2026

Stripe Users Can Now Pay With Crypto Through New crypto.com Partnership

Yahoo

“Stripe, the software used by millions of businesses to process payments, has just announced a partnership with Crypto.com to facilitate the acceptance of cryptocurrency. The collaboration will also allow Stripe users to purchase crypto with credit or debit cards. The new agreement will allow Stripe merchant customers to check out and pay with their favorite crypto or […]

December 17, 2025

Google Pay Enters RuPay-UPI Credit Card Space With Axis Bank Partnership

Storyboard18

“Popular UPI payments app Google Pay has launched a co-branded credit card in partnership with Axis Bank on the RuPay network, enabling users to link the card directly to their UPI accounts for merchant payments. A key differentiator of the card is its instant rewards mechanism, which allows users to earn cashbacks or rewards in […]

December 3, 2025

PhonePe Integrates ChatGPT Into UPI App

Startupro News

“PhonePe announced a pioneering collaboration with OpenAI to embed ChatGPT-powered AI features directly into its UPI app ecosystem, marking a major step in integrating generative AI into India’s digital payment landscape. This partnership will enable users to access AI-driven assistance across PhonePe’s consumer and business offerings, allowing for interactions related to payments, product research, travel […]

November 12, 2025

November 10, 2025

Paytm Unveils All-New App With AI Features to Enhance Payment Experience

Business Standard

“Paytm, India’s full-stack merchant payments leader, has launched a redesigned version of its flagship app, integrating artificial intelligence-driven features to personalise everyday transactions for its users. The update introduces a cleaner user interface alongside over 15 new features. One of the standout innovations is the launch of “Gold Coins,” a first-of-its-kind initiative that rewards users […]

November 7, 2025

Paytm Partners with Groq to Power Real-Time AI for Payments and Platform Intelligence

Konexio Network

“Paytm, India’s full-stack merchant payments leader and the pioneer of mobile payments, QR codes, and Soundbox, announced a partnership with Groq, the U.S.-based leader in real-time AI inference, to bring fast, intelligent, and cost-efficient AI to its platform. Under this collaboration, Paytm and its associate entities will deploy GroqCloud, to achieve faster, more cost-efficient and […]

October 28, 2025

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