We are heading into the height of industry conference season. One of my favorites is the Association for Financial Professionals’ annual conference. This year’s event, AFP2024, will take place in Nashville from October 20-23, and I’m honored to be moderating a panel on Request for Payment alongside colleagues from Netflix, US Bank, and The Clearing House.
Topics: Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management
Roughly a week ago, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, calling into question how they retained and gained its debit card market share in the post-Durbin era. The DOJ has alleged that Visa created a “web of unlawful anti-competitive agreements to penalize” financial institutions, merchants and processors for using competing payment networks. In addition, the DOJ suspects the card network used its monopoly power to squash innovative and potentially lower cost debit alternatives by companies such as Apple, PayPal, and Block. But what could this lawsuit mean for the payments industry moving forward?
Topics: Payments
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI tools like ChatGPT, is ushering in a new era of financial fraud. Malicious actors are leveraging these technologies to craft more convincing and sophisticated scams, putting consumers and institutions at greater risk than ever.
Topics: A.I., Artificial Intelligence, fraud
Although instant payments have been available in the United States since 2017 – via The Clearing House’s RTP rails – many in the industry treated last month as their first anniversary. That’s because in July 2023, the Federal Reserve launched its FedNow service, kicking off market competition in earnest.
Topics: FedNow, RTP, instant payments, Payments Landscape, Emerging Payments
With success comes additional scrutiny. A recent Federal Reserve survey indicates that three-quarters of Americans are familiar with Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, and nearly 10% had accepted such a deferred payment offer in the past 30 days. A modernized take on installment lending for the digital age, BNPL's rapid rise has attracted the attention of lawmakers, regulators, and companies with various stakes in the payments ecosystem.
Topics: Apple Pay, Chase Pay, Buy Now Pay Later, BNPL, CFPB, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Bank Regulation, Credit Union Regulation
The landscape of US financial regulation is continually evolving. At the heart of this transformation is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency tasked with overseeing and enforcing consumer protection laws within the financial sector.
Topics: Technology, Regulations, CFPB, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Financial Institutions, Data Protection
The outlook for the commercial payments market is strong. Volumes are projected to grow at a 14% average annual rate over the next five years, offering a prime opportunity for financial institutions to drive margin and deepen corporate customer relationships amid an uncertain economic environment marked by margin pressures and increasing regulatory headwinds.
Topics: FedNow, RTP, instant payments, Commercial Payments, B2B Payments
Aspects of artificial intelligence have been gradually introduced into business settings for years, starting with robotic process automation and continuing into fraud detection systems, CRM tools, and other varieties of knowledge management.
Topics: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Financial Services, EU, European Union, Financial Institutions
Any bank or credit union executive who’s taken part in critical vendor contract reviews, RFPs, negotiations, and renewals knows that the process can be cumbersome at best.
Topics: Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Bank Contracts, Credit Union Contracts, Contract Optimiziation
Plenty of ink has been spilled on Capital One’s bold move to acquire Discover Financial Services, with most of it revolving around combining two large credit card issuers and the odds of the deal securing regulatory approval.
Topics: Interchange, Mergers, Credit Cards, Durbin, Debit Cards, Capital One, Debit Network, Discover
