Pay Flexibility Rises as More Workers Earn Variable Income
A PYMNTS Intelligence study shows 66% of U.S. consumers still live paycheck to paycheck, with 42% doing so out of necessity. Income volatility is rising as six‑in‑ten Americans now earn their primary income from hourly wages, gig platforms, or contracts, and over 70% of financially strained households rely on nonsalaried earnings. Gen Z leads the gig‑driven workforce, while gig workers are six times more likely than salaried peers to face financial stress. The report urges providers to redesign cash‑flow products for variable‑pay realities.
Billing Shifts From Back-Office Chore to Customer Loyalty Test
Paymentus CEO Dushyant Sharma argues billing is evolving from a back‑office cost to a loyalty driver. Over the past five years, tech innovations have turned billing and payments into a value‑generating function, enabling hyper‑personalized engagement and reducing service costs. Intelligent...
Truist Launches AI-Enabled Platform to Automate Corporate Receivables
Truist Financial unveiled an AI‑enabled receivables platform that automates payment‑to‑invoice matching for corporate clients. Leveraging machine learning and business rules, the solution scans checks and electronic payments, extracts remittance data, and integrates with ERP systems for straight‑through processing. The platform...
Experian to Acquire AI-Powered Mortgage Shopping Platform Own Up
Experian announced the acquisition of Own Up, an AI‑driven mortgage‑shopping platform, to broaden its Experian Marketplace offering. The deal, expected to close within 90 days pending regulatory sign‑off, will integrate Own Up’s AI technology and a network of more than...
Spotify to Use Checkout.com’s Global Acquiring Services
Spotify announced a partnership with Checkout.com to power its global payment infrastructure, leveraging the fintech’s Intelligent Acceptance, network tokenization, and authentication services. The arrangement will cover more than 180 countries, supporting Spotify’s 700 million monthly active users and 280 million paying subscribers....
Socure Unveils Unified Risk Platform for Government Agencies
Socure announced SocureGov RiskOS, a unified risk platform for government agencies to modernize digital identity verification. The solution merges Socure’s existing public‑sector offerings with new AI‑powered analytics, replacing fragmented legacy systems with a single ecosystem. It leverages behavioral analytics, device...
Prediction Markets Chase Super Bowl Moment Despite States’ Regulatory Crackdown
Prediction market platforms such as Polymarket, Kalshi and Crypto.com’s new OG exchange are riding a wave of Super Bowl‑related activity, joining the $1.76 billion sports‑betting surge. The CFTC has stepped back from a restrictive 2024 rule proposal and is drafting fresh...
Stripe’s Stablecoin Expansion Faces Sanctions Scrutiny
Stripe’s 2025 acquisition of Bridge was intended to power a dollar‑backed stablecoin layer for faster, cheaper cross‑border payments. The Information reports that Bridge’s APIs were used in transactions linked to online scams and U.S. sanctions‑listed parties, prompting fresh compliance scrutiny....
Crypto.com Launches Prediction Market Platform in US
Crypto.com unveiled OG, a CFTC‑registered prediction‑market platform for U.S. users, offering contracts on sports, elections, finance and entertainment events. The service, powered by Crypto.com Derivatives North America, introduces margin trading on prediction contracts—a first for a publicly launched market. Co‑founder...
PayPal Shares Sink Amid Online Branded Checkout Headwinds
PayPal reported a modest 1% Q4 growth in its branded‑checkout payment volume, a sharp deceleration from the prior quarter, and its shares fell 18% on the news. The earnings release also announced a leadership transition, with board chair Enrique Lores...
Visa and UnionPay Partner on Cross-Border Money Movement Into Chinese Mainland
Visa and UnionPay have signed an agreement to connect Visa Direct with UnionPay’s MoneyExpress platform, allowing Visa’s global clients to send cross‑border remittances and payouts to more than 95% of debit cardholders in mainland China. The service, slated for a...
Banks Rethink Blanket Merchant Bans as Regulatory Guidance Evolves
Banks are reexamining blanket merchant bans after regulators removed reputational risk from exam criteria in 2025, prompting a shift toward nuanced, data‑driven underwriting. Maverick Payments’ VP Kyle Becker explained that clear risk‑appetite statements combined with automated KYC/KYB, AI monitoring and...
FuturePay Integrates Paysafe’s SafetyPay Solution to Support Expansion Into Latin America
FuturePay Global Limited announced the integration of Paysafe’s SafetyPay suite to accelerate its entry into Latin America. The partnership adds more than 175 banking partners across nine countries, along with SafetyPay’s eCash and Brazil’s Pix instant payment options. By embedding...
TransUnion to Acquire Mobile Division of RealNetworks
TransUnion announced a definitive agreement to acquire the mobile division of RealNetworks, aiming to bolster its communications solutions portfolio. The deal will bring RealNetworks' AI‑driven fraud detection, real‑time analytics for texts, calls and multimedia, and deep telecom carrier relationships into...
Loop AI Raises $14 Million to Expand AI Platform for Restaurant Back Offices
Loop AI announced a $14 million Series A round led by Nyca Partners to scale its AI platform for restaurant back‑office operations. The funding will fuel product development, headcount growth, and deeper integrations with finance, operations, and marketing tools. Loop’s solution automates...
NymCard and Visa Launch Stablecoin Settlement in GCC Region
NymCard and Visa have launched USDC stablecoin settlement for Visa‑card transactions across the Gulf Cooperation Council, enabling 24/7, near‑instant processing. The model promises lower operational costs, reduced collateral and prefunding needs, and a foundation for multicurrency settlement. Visa disclosed a...
Millennials and Gen Z Power Earnings as Spending Moves Fully Digital
Millennials and Gen Z are fueling earnings growth for financial services and retailers as their spending fully migrates to digital channels. Gen Z averages 425 digital activity days per month, shops on Amazon at triple the rate of older cohorts,...
Investors Bet Big on AI as Core Hardware Infrastructure
Investors poured billions into AI startups this week, treating artificial intelligence as core operating infrastructure. Ricursive Intelligence secured $300 million Series A at a $4 billion valuation to accelerate AI‑driven semiconductor design, while Waabi raised $1 billion to scale autonomous trucking and robotaxi fleets....
Varo Bank Raises $123.9 Million to Fuel New Stage of Growth
Varo Bank announced a $123.9 million Series G round, led by existing backer Warburg Pincus and new investor Coliseum Capital Management. The funding coincides with the appointment of two seasoned directors—Alice Milligan, former CMO of Morgan Stanley, and Kevin Watters,...
Robinhood UK Begins Rolling Out Stocks and Shares Individual Savings Account
Robinhood UK is rolling out its stocks‑and‑shares Individual Savings Account this week, bringing the fintech’s zero‑commission model to a tax‑advantaged product. The ISA allows up to £20,000 of tax‑free investing per year and includes a 0.10% foreign‑exchange fee, no platform...
Fifth Third and Comerica Merger Scales Digital Competition Across Regional Banking
The merger of Fifth Third Bancorp and Comerica closed on Feb. 2, creating a $294 billion institution that ranks as the ninth‑largest U.S. bank. It combines Fifth Third’s consumer‑focused digital platform with Comerica’s commercial franchise in Texas and California, giving the new...
Why CFOs Are Letting AI Agents Touch Their Cash — Carefully
AI‑driven agentic treasury systems are moving from prediction to execution, allowing CFOs to automatically sweep excess cash into short‑term instruments under predefined rules. Major vendors such as Oracle, SAP and Bottomline are embedding these agents into core finance platforms, and...
U.S. Bank Debuts Small Business-Focused Visa Card
U.S. Bank launched the Business Shield Visa Card, a credit product aimed at small‑business owners. The card offers a 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers and integrates a spend‑management platform that automates expense controls, accounting, and receipt capture....
Inside Healthcare’s AI Playbook for Claims Denials
Healthcare providers are turning to artificial intelligence to curb costly claims denials, shifting AI use from post‑submission fixes to upstream prevention. By analyzing historical claim data, AI models flag eligibility, coding, and documentation issues before claims are sent to payers....
CFOs Say Cash Visibility Matters More Than Capital Access
The 2025‑2026 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index shows North American mid‑market CFOs now value cash‑flow visibility more than sheer access to capital. Firms with $50 million‑$1 billion in revenue report that clear forecasting reduces surprise financing and enables strategic use of working...
Citi Analysts Say Crypto Bill Could Be Delayed Beyond 2026
Citi analysts say the CLARITY Act, a cornerstone of U.S. crypto market‑structure reform, could still clear Congress this year, but the likelihood of a delay beyond 2026 is rising. The biggest hurdle is defining when decentralized finance protocols and developers...
Elavon Introduces Payments App Integrated With Microsoft 365 Applications
Elavon, a U.S. Bank subsidiary, has partnered with Microsoft to launch Elavon Live Payments, a payments app embedded directly within Microsoft 365. The solution, now listed on the Microsoft Marketplace, operates inside Outlook and Teams, allowing users to create invoices,...
Affirm Becomes Expedia Group’s Exclusive BNPL Provider in US
Affirm has become the exclusive buy‑now‑pay‑later provider for Expedia Group’s U.S. travel brands—including Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo—under an expanded multi‑year partnership. The agreement will also extend to Canadian travelers on select properties in the coming weeks. The move adds Expedia...
Perplexity Adds Microsoft’s Azure as a Cloud Service Provider
Perplexity AI signed a three‑year, $750 million agreement with Microsoft to run its services on Azure, leveraging the Azure Foundry platform for access to frontier models from X, OpenAI and Anthropic. The partnership runs alongside Perplexity’s existing relationship with Amazon Web...
SoFi Scales Cross-Selling as Loan Originations Hit Records
SoFi reported a record‑breaking fourth quarter, delivering its first billion‑dollar revenue run and $10.5 billion in loan originations, surpassing the $10 billion threshold. The company added a record 1 million new members, reaching 13.7 million, and opened 1.6 million new products, with 40% coming from...
Walmart’s Choice for New CEO Signals Intent to Expand Digital Footprint
Walmart announced that John Furner will assume the role of CEO on February 1, 2026, succeeding Doug McMillon. Furner, the current head of Walmart U.S., is recognized for his tech‑savvy leadership, including early advocacy for drones and AI‑driven initiatives. The appointment...
Digital Wallet Use Still Lags in the Physical Store
The PYMNTS Intelligence study shows digital wallets are twice as likely to be used for online retail purchases (16%) than in physical stores (8%). Consumer payment preferences now align more with shopping channel than with age, as e‑commerce adoption converges...
Why Fraud Doesn’t Look Like Fraud to a Data Scientist
Fraud no longer looks like a discrete incident; data scientists see it as subtle behavioral deviations across a dynamic transaction ecosystem. Traditional rule‑based defenses create excessive false declines, eroding revenue and customer trust. Visa’s shift to deep‑learning models delivers 15‑20%...
Paytm Rebounds From Regulatory Ruckus With Sales Up 20%
Paytm posted a net profit of 2.25 billion rupees in the latest quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, while revenue climbed 20% to 22 billion rupees. The fintech’s turnaround follows a series of cost‑cutting measures, the sale of its ticketing business, and a renewed...
The Cross-Border CFO Playbook: Using Local Collections for Growth
The article highlights a growing gap between outbound payment innovation and inbound collection capability for mid‑market firms expanding internationally. While large multinationals have long relied on local entities and bank accounts, smaller companies still depend on global cards and cross‑border...
ACH B2B Volume Hits 8.1 Billion Payments
ACH network B2B payments climbed to 8.1 billion in 2025, a 9.9% increase from 2024. Overall ACH volume reached 35.2 billion payments, valued at $93 trillion, while Same‑Day ACH surged 16.7% to 1.4 billion transactions. Healthcare claim payments rose 7.3% to 548 million, underscoring broader...
Boomers Have More Patience Than Gen Z With Healthcare Payments Frictions
A PYMNTS Intelligence study reveals a stark generational divide in digital healthcare. While 33% of Gen Z patients report their latest visit was virtual, only 5% of baby boomers did. Payment friction is the biggest hurdle for younger users, with...
LendingClub Says 60% of LevelUp Checking Customers Are Also Borrowers
LendingClub posted a 40% YoY jump in Q4 loan originations to $2.6 billion, driven by strong uptake of its LevelUp savings and checking products. LevelUp checking accounts now have 60% of new users who are existing personal‑loan borrowers, and total deposits...
German Authorities Raid Deutsche Bank Offices in Alleged Money Laundering Case
German prosecutors and the Federal Criminal Police raided Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt and Berlin offices on Jan. 28, targeting unnamed staff linked to foreign entities suspected of facilitating money‑laundering. The investigation focuses on business relationships the bank maintained with overseas companies....
Dynamic Interchange Takes Card Pricing Beyond Static Tables
Dynamic interchange is replacing static rate tables, with Visa’s Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP) tying fees to real‑time transaction data. Verified commercial card transactions receive a 10‑15 basis‑point reduction, while unverified ones can incur up to a 75‑basis‑point surcharge. The...
Starbucks Says Digital Platforms Are Key Piece of Turnaround Strategy
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said digital platforms are central to the company’s turnaround, emphasizing the progress of the "Back to Starbucks" plan. In Q1 FY2026, global comparable store sales rose 4%, with U.S. comparable transactions up 3%—the first increase in...
Credibly Snags New Patent to Scale SMB Financing Platform
Credibly announced a newly issued patent that embeds AI deep into its SMB financing platform, automating affordability evaluation, offer structuring, and complex underwriting workflows at scale. The patent bolsters the company’s intellectual‑property portfolio and signals a shift from experimental add‑ons...
Mastercard Launches Accreditation Program for UK FinTech Sponsors
Mastercard has launched the “BIN Sponsor Plus” accreditation framework to streamline market entry for UK fintech startups. The program connects fintechs with a vetted network of banks that can provide rapid card‑program launches while meeting heightened due‑diligence and training standards....
Banks and BNPL Blur Lines on Post-Purchase Payments
Post‑purchase installment plans are moving from niche checkout features into mainstream payment flows, blurring the line between banks and buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) providers. Fiserv teamed with Affirm to embed BNPL options directly into debit card programs, while Walmart‑backed OnePay partnered with...
MercadoLibre and Endeavor Say Latin America’s eCommerce Growth Outpaces Rest of World
Online shopping in Latin America is expanding 1.5 times faster than the rest of the world, according to data from Endeavor and MercadoLibre. The region’s e‑commerce market is projected to hit $215.31 billion this year, with Argentina, Brazil and Mexico accounting...
Enova Spotlights Small Business Confidence as Loan Demand Surges
Enova reported fourth‑quarter originations of $2.3 billion, a 32% year‑over‑year increase, pushing its portfolio to a record $4.9 billion. Small‑business loans drove 68% of the portfolio, with originations up 48% to $1.6 billion and revenue climbing 34% to $383 million. The company highlighted an...
Anthropic Close to Finalizing Fundraising Deal at $350 Billion Valuation
Anthropic is on the brink of closing a $20 billion fundraising round that would lift its valuation to $350 billion, after investor demand reportedly surged to six times initial expectations. The deal is distinct from a prior $15 billion commitment from Microsoft and...
Nuvei and WEX Team on Virtual Cards for Travel Merchants
Nuvei announced a partnership with WEX to embed virtual‑card technology into its travel merchant network. The integration lets agencies, airlines and hospitality brands issue single‑use cards directly from settlement flows, improving cash‑flow visibility and reducing reliance on external credit. By...
Mesh Looks to Court FinTechs After $1 Billion Valuation
Crypto payments network Mesh raised a $75 million Series round that lifts its valuation to $1 billion. The capital will fund global expansion into Asia, Europe and Latin America as the firm courts fintech clients. Mesh’s platform, likened to Plaid, links consumer...
House Bill Aims to Achieve Goals of FTC’s Click-to-Cancel Subscription Rule
Congress reintroduced the Unsubscribe Act (H.R. 7048) on Jan. 13, aiming to curb deceptive subscription practices by requiring clear consent, easy cancellation, and regular notifications. The bill mirrors the FTC’s stalled click‑to‑cancel rule, which a federal court invalidated earlier this year...