Sat.Dec 09, 2017 - Fri.Dec 15, 2017

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eBay Mulling Accepting Bitcoin As A Payment Method

PYMNTS

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. .

Retail 88
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(i) on Economic Development: 2017 Wrap-Up

Katz,Sapper&Miller

What were the biggest Indiana economic development successes of 2017; what regions of the state were standout economic performers; and what does Indiana need to do differently in 2018 to land even more investment?

Indiana 40
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TRENDING: IBM On The New Rules Of The ‘API Economy’

PYMNTS

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?

B2B 77
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How FIs Compete In The ‘API Economy’

PYMNTS

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.

B2B 69
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Your Accounting Expertise Will Only Get You So Far: The New Way To Lead

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.

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Hackers Behind Mirai Botnet Plead Guilty

PYMNTS

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.

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Payments Innovation: Brand Of Choice Driven By Consumer Experience

PYMNTS

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.

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Person Present: The Future Of Card Not Present Identity Verification

PYMNTS

“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.

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Visa’s Vision Of What’s Next In Payments And Commerce

PYMNTS

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.

Sales 60
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Standardizing Digital Payments Standardization

PYMNTS

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.

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The Power Of Bringing Better Data For The Holidays

PYMNTS

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

Gaming 58
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The Hidden Science Behind Why Finance Teams Resist Change—And How to Fix It

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.

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Prime Growth Starting To Show Signs Of A Slowdown

PYMNTS

Amazon Prime may have had the best Prime Day ever this past summer, but Morgan Stanley warned there are signs that its Prime growth is starting to slow. According to news from CNBC , Morgan Stanley said in a research report this week that based on a survey of 1,000 adults in the U.S. during the third quarter, 40 percent of consumers in America already have Prime memberships, which matches the same level that was seen in the fourth quarter of last year.

Sales 54
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Mastercard’s Master Plan: Give Millennials What They Want

PYMNTS

“Avengers, assemble!” is a rally cry that would perk the ears of many millennials, but how about “ Mastercard , assemble?”. The card network is hoping that’s the case, as it rolls out the first use case stemming from its recently launched global prepaid money management platform. Assemble for millennials is a toolkit that issuers, corporations and IBCUs can use to enable digital financial solutions, in this case targeting millennials, using a single-access digital prepaid product.

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Wendy’s Joins The Dash For Delivery Market Share

PYMNTS

Forget presents under the tree. DoorDash is bringing Americans what they really want this holiday season: hot, fresh Wendy’s takeout delivered directly to their doors (or cold, fresh Frosties, if they so desire — DoorDash’s thermal bags can keep deliveries either hot or cold as needed). Wendy’s and DoorDash announced earlier this month that they were expanding their partnership following a successful pilot program at 135 restaurants across Columbus, Ohio, and Dallas, Texas.

Ohio 53
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Overstock CEO Says Its eCommerce Business Could Be Sold Within Three Months

PYMNTS

On Thursday (Dec. 14), Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne revealed that within the next three months the company should have a deal to sell or reorganize its retail business to focus on blockchain. In the interview with CNBC , Byrne said, “my goal is [within] 60 to 90 days we walk away from this,” noting he has an “ethical obligation” to focus on his new De Soto joint venture for the next five years.

Retail 51
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Doing More With Less: The Modern Finance Miracle

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.

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Startup Spotlight: GPShopper And The Overdue Evolution Of Luxury Retail

PYMNTS

Retail isn’t all about taking people’s money. Today, it’s also about telling a story and building an experience that makes customers want to shop with the brand again. So, one might think it would be a no-brainer for luxury brands, which have such a legacy presence in the market, to be all over the latest storytelling modes, with exciting new ways to draw consumers into their rich and storied history.

Retail 51
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A New Gift Card Hack For The Holidays

PYMNTS

There seems to be no such thing as a Christmas vacation when one’s main profession is defrauding consumers and businesses. It appears the ever-inventive thieves of the world have found a new way to make gift card fraud work for them this holiday season, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). This year the scam relies on thieves grabbing cards off the rack, scratching the film that covers the card PIN underneath and copying the relevant numbers.

Retail 51
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The Frightful Five: Fake Apps And Hubcaps

PYMNTS

When a company is as massive as any one of the Frightful Five, the bad news is it’s inevitable that some things will slip under the radar. Apple and Amazon learned that the hard way this week as partners called them out on fake apps and hubcaps for sale on their platforms. The good news, though, is that it’s never all bad news when you’re as big as the Frightful Five.

Finance 51
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Bringing ‘Try Before You Buy’ To Interior Design

PYMNTS

It looked great in the store, but it didn’t look so great when it got home. It’s a problem all consumers face, and it isn’t that big of a deal for most objects. Thinking better of a buy is an easily solved problem generally handled by finding a receipt and returning to the store to trade in a wrong purchase. But, as easy as that is when the item in question is, say, a t-shirt, the mechanics of buyer’s remorse become a good deal more complex when the thing that didn’

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8 Pillars of Leadership Development

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.

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Shopping Malls Freshen Up With Chatbots

PYMNTS

Whether customers shop at a mall once a week or once a year, it’s safe to say that most would probably find a visit to the Mall of America a bit overwhelming, especially if they’ve brought the whole family along, and especially if it’s Christmas time. The mall is so big that the first challenge will be deciding where to park so that no one is walking across the entire property to reach the store they want to visit.

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Holiday Spending Continues Upward For Americans

PYMNTS

Thanks to early boosts from Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, the holiday season is poised to be a merrier one for retailers, as Americans are upping their online and in-store spending, according to news from The Wall Street Journal on Thursday (Dec. 14). In fact, in-store, online and restaurant spend increased 0.8 percent in October, per reports from the Department of Commerce, beating economist estimates of 0.3 percent.

Retail 50
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Corporates Headed For GDPR Wakeup Call

PYMNTS

The eyes of the financial services world are on the EU’s upcoming PSD2 regulations, with many jurisdictions watching how the European market evolves and responds to regulations that support data sharing and open banking, while maintaining data security. But there’s another, less talked-about regulation coming in on the heels of PSD2, and it’s one that Jeff Nicholson, vice president of CRM product marketing at software company Pegasystems, says is a “sleeping giant.”

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TRENDING: How AmeriCommerce Powers Tailored Pricing

PYMNTS

Ambitious retailers don’t want to stay locked in one lane, but rather to spread to new audiences, new product types and more — and payments-powering companies are stepping up to give them the lift they need to reach these expansion dreams. The December edition of the PYMNTS Payments Powering Platforms Tracker , a WePay collaboration, features the latest insight from the CEO of AmeriCommerce, a major player in the eCommerce platform space, and the latest headlines from the space.

Gaming 49
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Protect What Matters: Rethinking Finance Ops In A Digital World

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.

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Today In Data: VC For Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin Records And Virtual ID Verification

PYMNTS

Today in PYMNTS’ data, venture capital (VC) funding is backing digital currency operations, bitcoin is edging up on record highs, identity (ID) verification solutions providers are helping merchants verify customers’ ideas, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are reporting they trust their payment providers and banking infrastructure and small community banks are enjoying the benefits of Same Day ACH credit transactions.

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Today In Data: Increased Shipping, Bitcoin Whirlwind And GDPR Non-Compliance

PYMNTS

Today in PYMNTS’ data, delivery firms will ship more packages than ever this holiday shopping season, bitcoin is having another whirlwind week, financial institutions (FIs) are working toward better innovations to create higher customer satisfaction, B2B digital procurement tools are not being used to their fullest potentials and the upcoming General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) might leave some businesses non-compliant.

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B2B Payments Remains Without A Clear Picture Of Faster Payments’ Impact

PYMNTS

Faster and real-time payments are generally considered a benefit for the consumer payments world. But with the U.S. finally making inroads in its faster payments initiatives, it’s now time to see whether faster payments will make their way into the B2B sphere too. Released last week, December’s PYMNTS Faster Payments Tracker , powered by NACHA , tracks progress of faster payments initiatives throughout the U.S.

B2B 48
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Invoicing, Internationally, On The Fly And With Flywire

PYMNTS

Life is full of complexity. Life for a small- to mid-sized business (SMB) scaling operations into new countries? Complex on so many levels, especially when it comes to payments and, more specifically, invoicing, where demands for payment are tracked through paper and electronic means. On a good day, managing the ebb and flow of supply chains, accounts receivable and accounts payable can be challenging; on a bad day, juggling all those spinning plates becomes a nightmare.

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Automation, Evolved: Your New Playbook for Smarter Knowledge Work

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.

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Amex Latest To Ditch The Signature

PYMNTS

Payments processor American Express announced Monday (Dec. 11) that it will stop requiring merchants to collect signatures for purchases at the point of sale (POS). In a company press release, American Express said the changes will take effect beginning in April 2018 and will apply to all merchants accepting American Express worldwide. The move will provide a more consistent and speedier in-store checkout experience for merchants and American Express cardholders.

Sales 47
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Alibaba’s Plans For A Giant Car Vending Machine

PYMNTS

After announcing a deal to help Ford sell electric vehicles in China, Alibaba has unveiled how they plan to sell them: Car Vending Machines that look like futuristic buildings. According to Tech Crunch , customers simply use Alibaba’s Taobao app to scan a car that they want to test drive. Once the system recognizes the vehicle, it allows users to pick a color, and once they enter basic information and snap a selfie, arrange for a test-drive if the vehicle is available.

Retail 47
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Bitcoin Reaches ‘Mania’ Phase As People Take Out Loans To Fund Token Purchases

PYMNTS

Joseph Borg, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association warned on Tuesday (Dec. 12) that bitcoin has entered the “mania” phase, with some people taking out mortgages just to purchase the cryptocurrency. In an interview with CNBC , Borg said that bitcoin shares are on the “mania curve” and that there has to be a leveling off at some point.

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Walmart’s Early Pay Sizzles While Munchee’s ICO Bites The Dust

PYMNTS

In this space we have highlighted the need to “Kill the Check” through a number of interviews with Ingo Money CEO Drew Edwards. And driving a nail into the paper coffin has some real benefits — the most obvious one would be the literal abandonment of paper, where processing costs are as high as $10 a check. That’s money out the door for companies just to send money out the door.

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Data Talks, CFOs Listen: Why Analytics Are Key To Better Spend Management

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.