Colorado Advances a Measure to Eliminate Interchange Fees on Sales Tax
Colorado's legislature has passed a bill that would remove sales‑tax amounts from the interchange fee calculation for credit and debit card transactions. The measure, which mirrors aspects of Illinois’ Interchange Fee Prohibition Act but limits its scope to banks with at least $60 billion in assets, could take effect on Jan. 1, 2028 pending a voter referendum. Proponents say it would save Colorado merchants and consumers roughly $217.5 million a year, while payment‑industry groups warn it could disrupt processing systems and raise costs. The bill now awaits Governor Jared Polis’ signature.
Apis Partners Closes $1.23bn Fund III
Apis Partners announced the final close of its Apis Global Growth Fund III and Apis Growth Markets Fund III, together raising $1.23 billion in commitments, more than double the $563 million raised for Fund II. The combined fund will take meaningful minority...
Fed to Launch Roundtable to Fight Payment Fraud
The Federal Reserve, the FCC and the U.S. Treasury are creating a public‑private roundtable to tackle the growing threat of payment fraud, Vice Chair Michelle Bowman announced. The forum will review fraud‑prevention efforts, data‑sharing practices and cross‑sector solutions, drawing on...
Shift4 Shrugs Off Disruption From War in the Middle East
Shift4 Payments told investors that travel disruptions from the U.S.-Iran conflict had limited effect on its business. The company posted a 24% year‑over‑year rise in processing volume to $56 billion, driving gross revenue up 49% to $549 million, while net income fell...
Here’s Why Mastercard Is Betting Big on BVNK — and Stablecoin
Mastercard announced it will acquire stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for a potential $1.8 billion, with the deal expected to close by the end of 2026. BVNK brings a portfolio of hard‑to‑obtain licenses and a network of liquidity providers that will allow...
InvestiFi Brings Investing to Summit Choice Members
Summit Choice Credit Union in Indiana has partnered with InvestiFi to embed investing directly into its digital banking platform. The integration lets the credit union’s 11,354 members buy stocks, ETFs and digital assets straight from checking accounts. A guided‑investing tool...
BlackRock Aladdin Expands Private Credit on Preqin
BlackRock’s Aladdin platform has added a suite of private‑credit capabilities sourced from Preqin, extending coverage to closed‑end funds, Business Development Companies and semi‑liquid vehicles. The upgrade introduces asset‑level benchmarks that standardise performance, leverage, defaults and recoveries, while AI‑driven analytics let...
Stripe Teams up with AWS to Power AgentCore Payments with Privy
AWS unveiled AgentCore payments, a suite that lets AI agents instantly pay for services such as web content, APIs, and other agents. Stripe’s Privy unit supplies the wallet infrastructure and stablecoin payment rails, while Coinbase adds crypto liquidity. The partnership...
WealthArc Gains ISO 27001:2022 Certification for AI Data Push
Swiss‑born fintech WealthArc announced it has achieved ISO 27001:2022 certification from BSI, confirming its information security management system meets global standards. The certification follows a rigorous audit and underpins the company’s plan to scale to over 1,000 custodian data feeds...
Pleo and Iplicit Partner to Boost Expense Management
Pleo has partnered with iplicit to embed smart corporate cards and AI‑driven spend optimisation into iplicit’s cloud‑native accounting platform for UK and Ireland mid‑market firms. The integration will sync expense data in real time, giving finance teams a unified view...
7 Best Contractor Payment Software I Recommend in 2026
The article ranks the seven top contractor payment platforms for 2026, highlighting Deel as the overall leader, followed by Gusto, Remote, Rippling, RUN Powered by ADP, Fiverr Enterprise, and Payoneer Workforce Management. It bases the rankings on G2 data, user...
Exclusive: Fazeshift Scores $17M As Investors Bet On AI-Powered Finance Ops, Starting With Accounts Receivable
San Francisco‑based Fazeshift raised $17 million in a Series A led by F‑Prime Capital, bringing its total funding to $22 million since its 2023 launch. The startup’s AI agents sit atop existing ERP, CRM and banking systems to automate more than 90 % of...
How Betastack Turned a Kano Classroom Into Fintech Plumbing
Betastack spent eight months training a 15‑person team in Kano before launching any product, focusing on the mechanics of payments rather than marketing. The effort produced ZainPay, a digital payment gateway, and ZainPOS, a point‑of‑sale solution that now serve 543...
Exclusive: NPCI Mandates New MCC for UPI Gift Cards, Caps Per-Transaction Limit at Rs 10,000
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has ordered all UPI and RuPay member banks and payment service providers to re‑classify gift‑card and voucher purchases under a new Merchant Category Code (MCC) 7016, effective by May 31, 2026. Previously, these transactions shared MCC 6540...
Susquehanna Maintains Positive Rating on Mastercard (MA)
Mastercard posted Q1 earnings of $4.60 per share and revenue of $8.4 billion, beating expectations and showing a 16% rise in net revenue. Growth was driven by a 22% jump in value‑added services and progress in agentic commerce and stablecoin projects....
Core Deposits Are a Myth—Everything’s Movable
At this year’s Financial Brand Forum, Jim Marous and I did an episode of Pardon the Finterruption. During it, I said, somewhat nonchalantly: “The concept of core deposits no longer holds. There are no core deposits. They're all movable." Here's why: https://t.co/m0uQiifQLE
Anthropic Unveils 10 Bank‑Focused AI Agents and Partners with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs
Anthropic rolled out ten new Claude AI agents tailored for banking workflows at a New York event, partnering with JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, AIG and other financial firms. Executives highlighted the agents' ability to draft pitchbooks, underwriting loans and automate...
Zip Deploys AI Agents to Cut Invoice Processing Time by 96% for Large Enterprises
Zip introduced AI Automation for Procure-to-Pay, a suite of agents that automate the full accounting workflow. Early adopters report invoice coding up to 96% faster and a three‑fold increase in monthly processing volume, while the platform has already flagged more...
Lean Technologies Debuts UAE Pay‑by‑Bank Suite, Saving $100M
Lean Technologies rolled out the UAE’s first regulated Pay‑by‑Bank service, a unified suite that handles deposits, collections, checkout and subscriptions. The platform builds on billions of dollars in transaction volume and has already helped merchants save more than $100 million in...
Circle Presses OCC to Finalize GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules
Circle Internet Group submitted comments to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency urging the agency to lock in the GENIUS Act framework for payment stablecoins. The firm argues that consistent, ring‑fenced rules are essential to protect consumers and...
The Passkey You Can’t Steal: Why Hardware Beats Software for High-Stakes Authentication
In this episode of Payments Journal, host Rima Katz and guests Adam Lowe (Chief Product & Innovation Officer at Composecure/Arculus) and Tracy Goldberg (Director of Cybersecurity at Javelin) dissect the difference between software‑synced passkeys and hardware‑bound passkeys. They explain that...
Opinion: The Infrastructure Gap in Agentic Commerce – Payments Are Ready, Disputes Are Not
Donald Kossmann, CTO of Chargebacks911, warns that while payments infrastructure for agentic commerce is maturing, a critical dispute and consent‑evidence layer is missing. McKinsey estimates the model could generate $3‑5 trillion in global revenue by 2030, prompting Visa, Mastercard and AP2...
Kalshi, the Prediction Market, Raises $1 Billion at a $22 Billion Valuation
Kalshi, a U.S. prediction‑market platform, announced a $1 billion funding round that lifts its valuation to about $22 billion. The round, led by Coatue Management, is the third in seven months and follows a period where the company’s annualized trading volume surged...
Why Businesses Are Switching to a White Label Crypto Payment Gateway
Businesses are increasingly adopting white‑label crypto payment gateways to replace traditional fiat processors. These turnkey solutions let firms rebrand a full‑stack blockchain payment system without building infrastructure, reducing launch time from years to weeks. By leveraging crypto, merchants gain lower...
NVIDIA Explores Revolut's PRAGMA and Transaction Foundation Models
Watch our dicsussion w/ Georgios Kolovos, #NVIDIA's Payments and Fintech practice in EMEA, on 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭'𝐬 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐌𝐀, 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 & 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠! Full discussion 👉 https://t.co/nJSsfnXgBH https://t.co/aR8XqBtoLW
Simplify Onboarding to Unlock Growth without Bigger Budgets
Growth is not always about new marketing or bigger budgets. Sometimes it is about removing friction. In this episode, I show how simplifying onboarding can transform results. 👉 Watch the full episode: https://t.co/5dcOvVfGgn https://t.co/JP2RsfesqE
Beyond Payments: Why SMBs Need Both Contactless Acceptance and Modern Fraud Controls
SMBs must adopt contactless payment acceptance as consumer demand spikes, with Mastercard reporting over 75% of its 2025 transactions contactless. At the same time, credit‑card fraud rose 54% year‑over‑year in Q3 2025, and SMBs experience fraud rates 65% higher than...
LendingClub Rebrands to Happen Bank as Its Identity Catches up to Its Model
LendingClub announced it will rebrand as Happen Bank this summer, reflecting its evolution from a marketplace lender to a full‑stack digital bank. The name change follows the 2021 acquisition of Radius Bank, which gave the firm a banking charter and...
Apis Surpasses Target with $1.23bn Fundraise for Financial Infrastructure Strategy
Apis announced a $1.23 billion fundraise, surpassing its $1 billion target and positioning the firm to expand its financial‑infrastructure platform. Apollo committed to providing daily pricing for private‑credit assets, a move aimed at boosting market transparency. Meanwhile, Blue Owl trimmed dividend payouts...
Idempotency Is Easy Until the Second Request Is Different
The piece argues that true idempotency goes far beyond a simple replay cache; the real difficulty lies in handling a second request that arrives while the first is still processing or carries different data. It outlines scenarios such as concurrent...
How Banks Can Make Stablecoin Payments Safe & Compliant with Peter Glyman, Founder & CEO at Coinbax | Episode 486
In this episode, Greg Myers talks with Pete Glyman, founder and CEO of Coinbacks, about how stablecoins can be integrated into traditional banking payments safely and compliantly. Glyman explains Coinbacks' unique approach: a smart‑contract‑based controls layer that adds reversibility, escrow,...
SASSA Grant Beneficiaries Fuel Lesaka Consumer Unit Boom
Lesaka’s consumer division, which serves South Africa’s SASSA grant recipients, posted a 41% revenue jump to roughly $33 million and an 81% surge in EBITDA to about $11 million in Q3 2026. The segment now serves over 2 million active customers, capturing a 14.6%...
The Card That Changed Everything: 60 Years Ago This Year
On June 29, 1966 Barclaycard launched the United Kingdom’s first consumer credit card, initially accepted at 30,000 retailers. The launch broke a banking advertising taboo and sparked a shift in how British consumers and merchants handle money. Over six decades,...
HKMA Launches CargoX Pilot Programme to Expand Data-Driven Trade Finance
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has launched the CargoX Pilot Programme, enlisting 21 banks to test the use of cargo and trade data in trade‑finance workflows. The pilot will operate on the Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) platform, exploring data‑driven credit...
American Express CEO Stephen Squeri Drives Premium Push to Win Gen Z and Millennials
American Express CEO Stephen Squeri is betting on affluent younger consumers, using high‑fee premium cards and pop‑culture events to spark a 38% spend jump from Gen Z. The strategy helped the firm post Q1 2026 earnings of $4.28 per share,...
London Stock Exchange Welcomes StepStone Group to Its DMI Platform
London Stock Exchange Group announced that StepStone Group has joined its Digital Markets Infrastructure (DMI) platform, bringing the private‑equity firm’s evergreen strategies in private equity, debt and infrastructure to eligible professional investors. StepStone, which manages $811 billion in capital, previously partnered...
MMTC-PAMP Relaunches Digital Gold, Silver Sale
MMTC‑PAMP, an LBMA‑certified refiner, has relaunched its digital gold and silver platform, allowing investors to start with as little as ₹10 (≈ $0.12). The service lets users buy, hold, and redeem precious metals at real‑time market prices, with options for direct...
Morgan Stanley Starts Bitcoin Trading On E*Trade At 0.5% Fee For 8.6 Million Users
Morgan Stanley has launched spot Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade retail brokerage platform, targeting its 8.6 million client base. The pilot, announced on May 6, charges a 0.5% transaction fee, positioning the bank against fintech disruptors that offer crypto services....
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Vodacom Tanzania, Thunes Roll Out M-Pesa Links to Uganda and China
Vodacom Tanzania and cross‑border payments platform Thunes have launched a new M‑Pesa integration that lets Tanzanian users send real‑time payments to merchants in Uganda and China. The service routes payments through MTN MoMo in Uganda and Alipay in China via the...
Haun Ventures Closes Fund II with Over $1 B in Commitments
Haun Ventures announced the close of its second fund with over $1 billion in commitments from sovereign wealth funds, endowments, pensions and other global investors. Led by founder Katie Haun, the fund will target early‑ and late‑stage companies in financial services,...
Temenos Launches Composable Deposits and Lending to Speed Core Modernization
Temenos announced the launch of composable retail deposits and lending solutions, cloud‑native modules that let banks modernize core banking functions one at a time. The move targets large institutions seeking faster, lower‑risk digital transformation, and builds on design‑partner feedback from...
Anchorage Says New U.S. Crypto Rules Will Ignite Tokenized Finance Boom
Anchorage Digital’s head of policy, Kevin Wysocki, warned that the pending GENIUS and CLARITY Acts will remove regulatory uncertainty and spur a new wave of tokenized finance. The firm expects traditional banks, DeFi platforms and tech companies to converge around...
Iress Partners with Thoughtworks on AI and Platform Push
Iress has struck a strategic partnership with technology consultancy Thoughtworks to modernize its wealth‑management platforms and embed artificial‑intelligence capabilities. The collaboration will streamline Iress’s technology architecture, starting with its flagship Xplan platform, and aims to deliver a more modular, AI‑enabled...
Nexi Posts €821 Million In Q1 2026 Revenue As European Payments Shift To Digital
Nexi reported first‑quarter 2026 revenue of €821 million, roughly $895 million, marking a double‑digit year‑over‑year increase. The growth reflects accelerating adoption of digital payments across Europe, where merchants are shifting from cash and card‑present methods to online and mobile solutions. Nexi’s expanded...
EToro Crosses 200 Crypto Mark Despite Push to Cut Reliance on Digital Assets
eToro announced the addition of 19 new cryptoassets, taking its offering to over 200 digital tokens. The Israeli fintech highlighted this as part of a multi‑asset strategy, even as crypto trading volumes have slumped 36% year‑over‑year in early 2026. Despite...
Join Canada FinTech Symposium: Open Banking, AI, Digital Finance
Less than two weeks until the Canada FinTech Symposium 2026! If Open Banking, AI, and digital finance are part of your 2026 strategy, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss. Register Now 👉 https://t.co/ClXiwMnrfL @chyppings @CanadaSymp70327 https://t.co/BdNJ0ZlIK4
Fincra Expands Into Ghana’s Payments Market
Fintech firm Fincra announced on May 6 2026 that it obtained an Enhanced Payment Service Provider licence from the Bank of Ghana, granting it direct, regulated access to the country’s payment ecosystem. The licence allows the company to process transactions across mobile‑money...
BNY Mellon Deepens Crypto Foothold in Abu Dhabi
BNY Mellon just expanded its crypto services in Abu Dhabi. The world’s biggest custody bank is now going deeper into digital assets in the Middle East. TradFi adoption keeps on growing. 🚀 https://t.co/3vHekGV0FY
JPMorgan and Ripple Execute First Tokenized Treasury Redemption
Ripple and JPMorgan just completed the first cross-border tokenized Treasury redemption on the XRP Ledger. This is a big real-world use case for on-chain Treasuries. Big institutions are now settling real money directly on blockchain. RWA momentum is speeding up. https://t.co/00UFITs8d9
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses FinCEN, OFAC Proposed Rule on Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions-Compliance Requirements
On April 8, 2026 FinCEN and OFAC issued a joint notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to implement the GENIUS Act’s framework for payment stablecoin issuers (PPSIs). The NPR clarifies AML/CFT and sanctions‑compliance duties, distinguishing primary‑market activities—where PPSIs must conduct CDD,...