PYMNTS
DECEMBER 20, 2017
Passport, company that’s managing much of the technical aspects of how people pay to use public transportation resources in cities like London, Miami and Los Angeles, has just raised $43 million. The money, from Bain Capital Ventures, will go to help the company expand its payment and transaction services nationally and internationally. Read More.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 20, 2017
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”. That’s a quote from department store maven John Wanamaker, illustrating a conundrum for retailers (and merchants in general): Namely, you’ve got to reach out to consumers if you are going to convince them to buy your wares. But reaching out involves time and money — both precious commodities.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 13, 2017
Online retailer eBay , following in the footsteps of Overstock.com, is contemplating allowing bitcoin as a payment method. In an interview with Yahoo Finance , Scott Cutler, SVP of eBay Americas, said the eCommerce retailer is “seriously considering” accepting bitcoin payments but noted the company is “not quite there yet.” He noted that eBay is currently focused on the holiday shopping season, which is turning out to be a strong one for online retailers. .
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 26, 2017
Mozilla has patched one critical vulnerability in its Thunderbird email client along with two bugs rated high.
Speaker: Victor C. Barnes, CPA, MBA
In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. But if you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner, and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top. 🗻 What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level. The higher you go, the more your effectiveness depends on how you connect, adapt, and communicate.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 5, 2017
And now, the rise of the machines — or, at least, machine learning. This movement has been a long time coming, as artificial intelligence (AI) is moving ever-farther into real-world business applications where once it was too expensive (or too conceptual) to embrace. Through improving technology and decreasing costs, AI and Big Data are now combining to help firms in the financial sector prevent payments fraud.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 28, 2017
If I told you that you could travel back in time, to the end of the nineteenth century, and invest in a country that was recently war-torn, and in great transition, would you do it? You’d need to know that the government was primarily one ethnic group, but immigrants with different languages, customs, and religions were arriving in that country, at unprecedented levels, crowding the cities and looking for jobs.
Accountant Advocate brings together the best content for small business accounting professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 8, 2017
Payment Rails is making its official step into the cross-border payments market through the launch of its application program interface (API) and payment platform, the company said Thursday (Dec. 7). In a press release , Payment Rails said its white label platform supports business payments sent to more than 220 countries in more than 135 currencies.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 13, 2017
The emergence of APIs is doing more than just changing the way banks and FinTechs operate. It’s forcing them to create new marketplaces and ecosystems where innovations are traded and, in the process, upending the traditional rules of the financial services market. With the market rapidly evolving, is it time for traditional financial institutions (FIs) to learn the rules of the new API economy?
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 6, 2017
As the financial services industry takes a look back at 2017, a few milestones stand out: the progress of faster and instant payment initiatives. The evolution of blockchain-based services. Collaboration between FinTechs and banks. And, much to the relief of corporates, the continuing focus on B2B payments innovation. Businesses have begun to shed the notion that they are slow to embrace new technologies, and that means the disruptive services and solutions coming out of the financial services s
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 14, 2017
Banks and FinTechs may have had frosty relations in the past , but new open API ecosystems are now enabling former competitors to collaborate and grow their respective businesses. While collaboration is often seen as the more appealing approach, an open banking ecosystem invites its own challenges for traditional banks. Specifically, these financial institutions (FIs) must learn how to collaborate and innovate at a considerably faster pace.
Speaker: Kim Beynon, CPA, CGMA, PMP
The most overlooked, yet most critical, element of transformation is preparing people for change. Automation and AI aren't just technical upgrades, they’re cultural shifts which can challenge identities. That’s why change management isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation. In finance, where precision and process rule, navigating change can feel especially disruptive.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 14, 2017
Three computer hackers behind the Mirai botnet, which kicked websites offline last year in cyberattacks, have pleaded guilty to cybercrime. Citing court documents, Reuters stated on Wednesday (Dec. 13) that former Rutgers University student Paras Jha pleaded guilty in federal court in New Jersey to charges, including writing code that enabled him to infect and control devices.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 21, 2017
We asked our readers to give their favorite holiday tunes a T1D spin. Here are some lyrics for all to enjoy: The Night Before Christmas with Type 1 Diabetes. ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, till the CGM alarm did rouse; The testing supplies were stocked by the bedside with care, In hopes that a finger prick soon would be there.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 14, 2017
Not innovating is not an option. Perhaps in the early days of digital banking and mobile apps, innovative technology was a “nice to have,” but that is no longer the case. Today, it is a must-have for financial institutions (FIs) — that is, if they want their payment products to be the first one for which customers reach at the point of sale, whether physical or digital.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 13, 2017
Augmented and virtual worlds have long been touted as the future for all kinds of things — gaming, healthcare, travel, tele-learning. They’re experiences where being there counts in a lot of important ways, but virtualizing the experience and making it consumable digitally catches most of that in-person benefit, without the hassle of in-person travel.
Speaker: Mark Gilham, FCCA, CPP
Finance used to be the function that counted, now it's the one that’s counted on. 📊 For accounting firms, controllers, and finance leaders, expectations are rising faster than headcount. Businesses want agile forecasts, granular analysis, seamless reporting, and smart automation—often without added resources while demanding uncompromised accuracy and compliance.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 19, 2017
Employee fraud is a monumental issue, especially for small businesses (SMBs) without resources to track every penny workers spend. But that fraud is only part of the problem stemming from a lack of visibility into corporate spend. In addition to employee expenses, another key challenge for companies is the money they spend, and sometimes waste, on subscription services.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 13, 2017
“Who are you?”. It’s a philosophical question with a million different answers depending on who’s asking. In payments, it is a practical question with just as many answers depending on the use case. Identity verification and user authentication are hot spaces right now, and only getting hotter as merchants, financial institutions (FIs) and consumers demand more foolproof protection against fraudsters.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 12, 2017
At the dawn of the new millennium, consumers had only a few payment methods to choose from – cash, check or cards – and only a small fraction used them anywhere other than a brick-and-mortar storefront. Back then, authenticating the consumer was mostly what happened when the store’s sales associate turned over the card and looked at the signature on the back – and then maybe asked for a second form of identification if the card wasn’t signed.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 1, 2017
Timing is everything, as the saying goes. It’s also the story of a startup named Poly, and its visual identification software, says its CEO, Alberto Rizzoli. Two years ago, Rizzoli began developing an AI platform capable of seeing an object – or person – and “visually” identifying it, with a high degree of accuracy. The use case, then, was the ability to enable smartphones to be more accessible for the visually impaired.
Advertiser: Paycor
Great leadership development is the key to sustainable business growth. Are you ready to design an effective program? HR can use Paycor’s framework to: Set achievable goals. Align employee and company needs. Support different learning styles. Empower the next generation of leaders. Invest in your company’s future with a strong leadership development program.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 1, 2017
It’s tempting for small merchants to see cash through rose- (or should we say green-) tinted glasses, but major industry players think it’s time to break up the love affair — or, at least, give both parties some distance. Players like Mastercard are encouraging micro businesses to give mobile payment acceptance a whirl, hoping they’ll feel the attraction.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 14, 2017
The age-old question is: How do you create a standard that works for every digital payments innovator – and the consumers and businesses they serve – when the starting points for those innovations reflect their very different origins and digital strengths? It’s a question that’s very top of mind across the payments and commerce ecosystem, and particularly relevant in mobile and desktop commerce.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 1, 2017
Mastercard has announced the list of startup companies chosen to participate in its Mastercard Start Path program, a group the company is calling its “most diverse class” ever. Mastercard revealed the list in a recent announcement, including startups that span a range of verticals. Those partaking in the program, which aims to support later-stage FinTech and technology startups, total 11 firms selected from five countries.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 14, 2017
Arguably, the internet’s premier destination for auctions is eBay, which is not an unfair statement, given the sheer volume of said auctions going on via its website at any given moment. But as massive and instantly associable as auctions are, eBay has spent the last several years growing up, and growing past its old model. In fact, eBay is one of the web’s largest online marketplaces — with an estimated 168 million buyers in total — Customers eBay has spent much of 2017 trying to convince not t
Speaker: Frank Taliano
Documents are the backbone of enterprise operations, but they are also a common source of inefficiency. From buried insights to manual handoffs, document-based workflows can quietly stall decision-making and drain resources. For large, complex organizations, legacy systems and siloed processes create friction that AI is uniquely positioned to resolve.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 1, 2017
We are reasonably sure that Uber will be happy to see 2017 come to an end. Scandals of one form or another buffeted the company throughout the early part of the year, leading to the departure of its founder, CEO Travis Kalanick , in late June. But the year’s earlier rough ride might now be viewed as a walk in the park when compared to the news of the last two weeks.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 20, 2017
Image courtesy of Pixabay Today I am pleased to share with you a guest post by Julian de Sevilla with PATlive. An effective customer service solution has always been a tool that helps businesses stand out. However, customers recently have come to expect more from businesses in terms of service, forming a landscape that’s saturated with options, and thus hyper-competitive.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 5, 2017
The digital economy is here and, for many consumers, it has become a way of life. Direct deposits, push payments, eWallets, same-day ACH transfers, PayPal, Zelle and myriad other platforms and tools are now second nature. But, with this progress comes friction in the form of a payments patchwork. It has these newer, faster methods running across core payments infrastructure that was not built to support so many, so fast.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 8, 2017
In total, B2B venture capitalists placed (or announced plans to place) $85 million in funding to businesses, with startups in the U.S., Asia and the Middle East taking the lead this week. It was a mixed bag of funding, with a few startups working in more traditional B2B technology, including expense management and SaaS. The others, however, are working with more cutting-edge tech, including bitcoin and artificial intelligence (AI), and just so happened to see the largest funding rounds of the we
Speaker: Claire Grosjean, Global Finance & Operations Executive
Finance teams are drowning in data—but is it actually helping them spend smarter? Without the right approach, excess spending, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities continue to drain profitability. While analytics offers powerful insights, financial intelligence requires more than just numbers—it takes the right blend of automation, strategy, and human expertise.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 6, 2017
Modern consumers have high expectations for technology. If something doesn’t work perfectly, they’re quick to grow frustrated and abandon it as junk. “Our generation is a little bit spoiled,” said Bart van Hoek, head of Innovations with UL Transaction Security — and he said that is all the more true with payments tech. Imagine going out for breakfast only to find that the point-of-sale (POS) terminal isn’t working.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 18, 2017
IKEA has already done some early work to embrace augmented reality in its brick-and-mortar stores. Through a recent design collaboration with Wavemaker, the company is taking the next step by using virtual reality (VR) to help shoppers more fully experience IKEA and learn more about what they’re buying. IKEA’s newest retail concept got its first test run at a Dallas store opening.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 28, 2017
Over the recent years customer experience has dramatically grown in value to supersede product quality and price. Companies that deliver outstanding customer experience can truly win over the competition, retain more loyal customers and improve their bottom line. So what’s trending in the world of CX today? Since customer expectations are changing just as rapidly as technology advancements, improving customer experience has become an ongoing goal for most companies.
PYMNTS
DECEMBER 4, 2017
McAfee Labs recently published its 2018 Threats Predictions report , and after a year of high-profile cyberattacks and data breaches, analysts say the threat won’t let up in the new year. A rising challenge for the enterprise is the fact that cyberattackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their methods. According to McAfee, while companies are embracing innovations like machine learning to safeguard their systems, attackers, too, are using these same tools.
Speaker: Cheryl J. Muldrew-McMurtry
Distributed finance teams are rewriting how the back-office runs, and attackers are taking notes. Disconnected workflows, process blind spots, and rising cyber threats are more than just growing pains—they’re liabilities. The challenge isn’t just going remote. It’s building resilient systems that protect accuracy, control, and speed across every transaction and touchpoint.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
111 
Let's personalize your content