PYMNTS
MAY 16, 2017
Just in time for the summer travel season, Mastercard has announced a series of partnerships in over 80 cities worldwide, which will enable card carriers to tap to pay for public transit. “With a Mastercard in their wallet, more and more people have a go-to transit pass for the city they’re in,” said Ian Slater, senior vice president, enterprise partnerships at Mastercard.
Katz,Sapper&Miller
MAY 17, 2017
My colleagues often criticize me for what they call my “Dad humor,” or my weakness for a well (or badly) timed pun. I’ll plead guilty as charged, especially as I think about some of the challenges that faced the Indiana General Assembly this past legislative session.
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PYMNTS
MAY 15, 2017
Over the past decade, we’ve seen mobile apps rise to be the go-to item businesses add to their competitive repertoire. With Apple’s App Store and Android’s Play Store becoming major players with developers and businesses looking to expand offerings and make a few extra dollars, mobile apps have appeared to become unstoppable forces.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Surprise, surprise: a cybersecurity startup saw the largest funding round of the week by far. WannaCry’s explosive impact on the industry has enterprise security on everyone’s mind, and this startup is now a unicorn because of that attention, closing $100 million in Series D financing. Find out which startup landed the cash, along with the other B2B startups that saw their share of investments this week, below.
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
MAY 15, 2017
Until very recently, the tenor of the relationship between financial services startups and mainstream banking was contentious at best and adversarial at worst. The primary narrative about the future of financial services contributed to a majority of that — the banks were the old way of doing things and up-starts with streamlined business models were threatening to disrupt them right out of the water.
PYMNTS
MAY 18, 2017
For corporate payments — that is, money changing hands between firms — collecting on receivables can be a challenge. Perhaps a rule of thumb can be: the longer the supply chain, the longer the wait for payments. In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, Jeff Althaus, executive vice president and general manager at Flywire stated that “if you look at the payables side of the equation, it is much, much easier to send money” than to collect it.
Accountant Advocate brings together the best content for small business accounting professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Even as some countries move away from physical currency in favor of more modern payment methods, demand in larger nations means the Asia-Pacific region is still clinging to cash. With China and India driving economic growth, countries in the Asia-Pacific region are estimated to spend some $8.1 trillion in cash in 2020, marking a 7.5 percent compound annual growth rate.
PYMNTS
MAY 17, 2017
Spend management company Coupa has entered the realm of B2B payments. The company announced the launch of Coupa Payments Tuesday (May 16), a tool that aims to streamline cross-border payments for its corporate customers. The solution digitizes payment operations to ensure companies can pay their suppliers electronically, the company said in its announcement.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
With the exception of waistlines and maybe taxes, 63 percent growth in anything is pretty good to see. . So it was, sizzlingly so, when Walmart posted its fiscal first quarter numbers Thursday. The eye-popper: a big jump in eCommerce sales — a jump that came in at 63 percent — which overshadowed the mixed headline numbers that showed the commerce juggernaut inched past analyst expectations on the bottom line, posting $1 in net income vs. the $0.96 expected, and slightly missed the projections
PYMNTS
MAY 17, 2017
Dubai-based fetchr , a delivery and consumer technology app startup focused on innovating logistics in the Middle East and North Africa, recently announced raising $41 million in a Series B venture funding round led by New Enterprise Associates. Additional participants in fetchr’s Series B round include Majid Al Futtaim Holding and Nokia Growth Partners, among others.
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
MAY 17, 2017
The International Card Manufacturing Association (ICMA) is out with a new report that finds 70 percent of all financial cards have a chip embedded in them. In a press release issued Tuesday (May 16), the ICMA said chip cards account for 88.6 percent of revenue for cards globally manufactured in 2016. What’s more, the trade group said the size of the market globally was $27.4 billion in 2016, resulting in 35.4 billion cards produced last year.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Over the past year, there have been many discussions about how blockchain technology could revolutionize certain aspects of the music industry. While some are looking to move full force with it, others are skeptical and await more testing. As recently as this April, music streaming giant Spotify announced its acquisition of blockchain startup Mediachain.
PYMNTS
MAY 17, 2017
If you’re one of the many, many companies recently targeted by WannaCry , you’ve just been handed a harsh reality check in the importance of enterprise cybersecurity. Maybe you had ignored previous warnings or felt cybersecurity technology was unnecessary. Or maybe you actually had cybersecurity measures in place that failed. Analysts have (so far) placed the number of corporate victims of WannaCry at 29,000 firms.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Shares of global retailer Gap Inc. rose some 4 percent in after-hours trading following the company’s earnings release for the first quarter of fiscal 2017. It was largely a beat. In Q1 2017, Gap Inc. reported diluted earnings per share of $0.36, well above analyst consensus estimates of $0.29, and up 8 percent from EPS posted in Q1 2016. For the full year, Gap Inc. reaffirmed its eps guidance in the range of $1.95 to $2.05.
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
MAY 19, 2017
The world should watch Alibaba closely. While the Chinese eCommerce giant’s international presence to date is relatively small, that fact looks to change in just a few short years. To start, Alibaba just released its fourth-quarter earnings report, which showed core and other revenues to be strong. Earnings, however, was another story. For the quarter that ended March 31, Alibaba reported total revenue up 60 percent year-on-year to 38.58 billion yuan ($5.6 billion), well above analystsR
PYMNTS
MAY 17, 2017
Consumers have more options than ever when it comes to shopping for the right product or solution online. While that may mean there are more avenues for merchants to sell their goods, it also makes it harder for companies to get their message in front of the right buyer. Instead of convincing a customer to choose their products over those offered by another retailer or two, merchants must now compete with everyone from traditional brick-and-mortar stores to eCommerce warehouses like Amazon to ot
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Advertising only works when the right eyes see the product. The experts at Triad Retail Media are there to make sure that happens. Triad customizes and manages digital media programs to transform busy websites like Walmart.com into publishing properties that benefit the advertising brands, host retailers, and shoppers who use them with a perfectly calibrated pitch.
PYMNTS
MAY 17, 2017
From automation to mobile-first institutions and solutions, disruption is the new normal for the digital banking space. Financial institutions have rolled out a handful of new smartphone-first innovations for the digital banking space that are promising to bring disruption to the industry. From new pathways for mobile payment tools like Android Pay to expand their reach to the launch of new mobile-first banking institutions, the smartphone has clearly left its impact on the banking industry.
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
MAY 18, 2017
By all lights, the vote was not a surprising one. As has been widely reported, MoneyGram shareholders approved the $1.2 billion acquisition of MoneyGram by Ant Financial on Tuesday (May 16), with 97 percent of shareholders giving it the green light, putting an end to the bidding war that had erupted over the global money transfer giant between Ant and Euronet.
PYMNTS
MAY 15, 2017
Over the past 11 months, Brooks Brothers ’ customers at various brick-and-mortar locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico had their payment card information compromised. This past week, the U.S.-based clothing company shared this with the public. It revealed a hacker gained access to customer payment information and installed software to capture those details at its physical locations.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Last weekend, a major ransomware attack affected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries across the globe. Targeting computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, the malware encrypted users’ files and demanded payment in bitcoin equivalent to about $300 within 72 hours to regain access. If users didn’t pay within that time frame, the ransom would double.
PYMNTS
MAY 17, 2017
Wayfair has phased in a new way to “search by image.” Users can simply point their smart device’s camera at a piece of furniture they like, and Wayfair will generate search results for related pieces on their website. The move was inspired by similar search-by-image initiatives at Pinterest, Google, and Amazon, where evolving visual technology is paving new inroads for consumers to connect with products.
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.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Shares of retail giant Walmart got a 3 percent boost yesterday following the release of Q1 earnings that beat the Street. But the real beat for the largely brick-and-mortar retailer lay in how it has managed not just weather the eCommerce storm, but how it has thrived under these digital conditions. Here’s what we mean. For the quarter, Walmart posted a beat in earnings per share at $1.00, above analyst expectations for EPS by four cents.
PYMNTS
MAY 19, 2017
Alibaba is getting consumers to spend more money online, and that would appear to be a good thing for the Chinese eCommerce giant, which provides consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer, and business-to-business sales services via web portals. But the site is also getting Chinese merchants to spend more money to keep their products there, an arrangement that could eat the company from the inside out if it doesn’t find other sources of revenue.
PYMNTS
MAY 16, 2017
Finding the right piece of furniture for the space people live in can be a difficult task. From bulky sofas to breakfast tables and bedroom sets, furniture moving can be one of the most awkward, stressful and time consuming activities. Given the fact that people move an average of 11.7 times throughout their lives today, it may be safe to say that the types of homes and sizes of rooms will not all be the same.
PYMNTS
MAY 15, 2017
Amazon is getting into the furniture market, gearing up to build four or more warehouses to handle what it expects to be booming orders of bulky household items. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal , while Amazon has been selling furniture for some years, now the eCommerce giant is going after it in a much bigger way. Amazon will be taking on the likes of Wayfair and Pottery Barn in the online furniture market.
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
MAY 19, 2017
Facebook’s F8 conference is one of the largest conferences for developers and entrepreneurs. Starting in 2007, the event has had a different focus each year on what is the next big thing for the social media giant, with breakout sessions on more tailored topics. While last year’s conference focused on Facebook’s 10-year roadmap, this year’s focus was on AR, VR and bots.
PYMNTS
MAY 18, 2017
As we reported earlier this week, big ideas sometimes start out in small classrooms. And SoBi – short for Social Bicycle – is just such a big idea. It started as a school project that grew into a Kickstarter campaign, which then grew into a real company located across dozens of U.S. cities, bringing its unique ideas on bike sharing to the masses.
PYMNTS
MAY 18, 2017
The right product at the right price and the right time: that’s the retail recipe, and EDITED is providing real-time analytics to help apparel retailers worldwide cook up success. “The global retail market is a trillion-dollar industry where one good decision can make you millions, and a bad one can cost you just as much,” said Julia Fowler, who co-founded the company with technologist Geoff Watts in 2009.
PYMNTS
MAY 18, 2017
Even consumers who still frequent brick-and-mortar shops expect the latest omni features at their fingertips to help improve their shopping experience. From responsive mobile websites to on-demand offerings, consumers are increasingly demanding that retailers, both online and in the real world, cater to their needs in the moment. . The May PYMNTS Omnicommerce Tracker™ , powered by Vantiv, looks at the latest advancements in technology and how the rise of new consumer-friendly features are chan
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.
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