September, 2018

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From Startup To Global Payments Giant: Visa Turns 60

PYMNTS

Sixty years ago today (Sept. 18), a San Francisco startup launched by sending roughly 60,000 credit cards to consumers living in northern California. This startup was a bank, and its innovation was a single card that could be used by consumers to purchase things on credit from many different merchants. The card eliminated the need for consumers to establish credit with multiple merchants, then carry multiple cards issued by each of those merchants to pay for purchases over time.

Startups 103
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Amazon Now Up And Running In Turkey

PYMNTS

Amazon.com announced Wednesday (September 19) that it launched in Turkey, enabling consumers in the country to shop from millions of products over the internet. In a press release , Amazon said Amazon.com.tr is now live, featuring products in 15 different categories including books, consumer electronics, sports, outdoor, tools and more. “Our mission at Amazon is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, at great pri

Retail 81
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China, Alibaba Are Big Players On The Blockchain Patent Block

PYMNTS

In tech, innovation is everything. In innovation, intellectual property is, well, almost everything — it can be the hardware, the software, the processes that come from creative endeavor. And patents? Well, consider them a form of competitive advantage. News came recently, when it comes to patents tied to the blockchain landscape, that Thomson Reuters found China, and Alibaba , to have had an outsized showing.

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Western Union Mulls Sale Of B2B Payments Unit

PYMNTS

Western Union is reportedly considering a sale of its business payments operation, unnamed sources told Bloomberg on Wednesday (Sept. 26). The sources said a deal could give Western Union a $500 million boost, and that the institution plans to start discussing a sale with potential buyers in a few weeks. They noted, however, that Western Union has not definitively decided to sell its business payments unit and that its plans remain confidential.

Sales 79
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The Growth Architect: How Financial Leaders are Unlocking Potential

Speaker: Ashley Harlan, MBA

What if your role as a fractional CFO went beyond operational support to actively shaping the future of your clients’ businesses? 💼 ✨ In this session, discover how fractional finance professionals can position themselves as architects of growth, guiding their clients toward sustainable success and preparing them for full-time financial leadership.

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Amadeus On Why Travel Payments Need An Upgrade

PYMNTS

Travel companies know that payments innovation is mission-critical when it comes to acquiring and retaining consumers all over the world. It’s a clear fact in the data — 81 percent of travel firms indicated that payments innovation is on the menu for the next three years, according to the PYMNTS/ Amadeus IT Group Travel Payments Study. Bart Tompkins, managing director of Amadeus Payments Business Unit , told Karen Webster in a recent interview that it’s also apparent in his conversations with ai

Sales 78

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Why Walmart Says Blockchain Can Improve Food Safety

PYMNTS

Origins are all the rage in modern life: origin stories, family origins via DNA and digital ancestry databases. Add to that Walmart ’s latest effort to gain more grocery market share: using blockchain technology to trace the origin of the food sold by the retailer back to the farms from which it came. The idea is to introduce more transparency into the process, which could serve to prevent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses and encourage consumer trust of the grocery goods on Walmart shelves.

Retail 78
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Deep Dive: Fighting Fraud With AI And Machine Learning

PYMNTS

Digital commerce channels are presenting new opportunities for bad actors, making cybercrime a colossal problem for companies of all sizes. All told, U.S. businesses and consumers lost more than $1.4 billion in 300,000-plus reported cyberattacks last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Perhaps more troubling, however, is digital fraud’s projected future.

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AR And VR Sizzle At Macy’s And Walmart, Amazon And Danske Bank Fizzle

PYMNTS

Sizzle Of The Week: AR/VR’s Retail Gains. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have spent much of 2018 generating buzz as a potential tool for retailers looking to bridge the digital/physical gap and deliver an all-encompassing, omnichannel shopping experience. Retailers and merchants — big and small — have come running to the tech. Some of the luminaries on the field include Target , Walmart, Amazon , eBay , Macy’s, Ikea and Airbnb , all of which have made some type of notabl

Banking 77
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Uber In Talks To Buy Deliveroo As It Focuses On Food Delivery

PYMNTS

Uber Technologies, the ride-hailing company, is reportedly in early-stage talks to acquire Deliveroo , the food delivery company. Bloomberg , citing people familiar with the plans, reported the deal could be worth several billion dollars. Deliveroo , which is based in the U.K., was most recently valued at greater than $2 billion, noted Bloomberg. Acquiring the startup would be a big effort on the part of Uber to lead in the food delivery market in Europe.

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2025 Payroll Calendar Templates (Biweekly, Semi-Monthly, and Monthly)

Use these handy calendar templates to stay on top of payroll in 2025! Download them today to share with your HR team or post for employees. Whether your company has biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly pay periods, Paycor has you covered. Get your templates today!

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Bitcoin Daily: Ripple Surges, Chinese Billionaire Dumps Blockchain

PYMNTS

Ripple (XRP) has overtaken Ethereum within the last 24 hours, with a 7 percent surge in price for a market valuation of $24.28 billion. According to CCN , this is the third time this year that Ripple has moved past Ethereum, with each time occurring in the second half of September. But with the market cap of Ethereum only slightly below that of Ripple — combined with the weak volume of XRP — it is likely that Ethereum will regain its position as the second-most valuable cryptocurrency soon.

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PNC’s Treasury Unit Joins RippleNet For Cross-Border Payments

PYMNTS

The treasury management unit of PNC Bank is joining RippleNet, the firm said on Wednesday (Sept. 19). PNC Treasury Management joined the Ripple cross-border payments network that uses blockchain to facilitate global transactions. As members of the network, corporate customers of PNC Treasury Management will be able to receive cross-border payments, the FI said, adding that the solution can help them receive payments against their invoices more quickly for streamlined accounts receivable.

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Ripple Heads Up New Crypto Lobbying Group; Pays In XRP

PYMNTS

Ripple , the blockchain startup, is heading up a new cryptocurrency lobbying group called Securing America’s Internet of Value Coalition. Coindesk , citing a Business Standard report late last week, reported the companies behind the lobbying group also include the RippleWorks Foundation ; Coil , a company developing a solution for digital payments; Hard Yaka , an investment firm focusing on digital assets; and PolySign , a company seeking to be a crypto custodian.

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Cognitive/AI Business Spending Expected To See Strong Growth

PYMNTS

Spending on cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) systems is expected to see continued strong growth as businesses invest in projects in those areas. According to market research firm International Data Corp.’s Semiannual Cognitive Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Guide , spending on cognitive and AI systems will reach $77.6 billion in 2022, more than three times the $24.0 billion forecast for this year.

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From Start to Scale: Driving Growth Through Seamless Payments Implementation

Speaker: Michael Veatch, Senior Director, Implementations & Ella Aguirre, Director of Solution Consulting

Embedding payments can be a transformative step for software companies looking to enhance their platform capabilities, boost customer satisfaction, and drive long-term growth. However, the success of payments hinges on a single thing: implementation. Drawing on real-world insights and experiences, payments implementation experts Michael Veatch and Ella Aguirre will explore actionable strategies that can lead to a transparent, friction-free launch and mitigate potential challenges like technical

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Can Virtual Cards Void Checks’ Feeble Future?

PYMNTS

In an effort to kill the check — where B2B payments are anything but efficient — might virtual cards be the answer? In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, Scot Yarbrough, group executive of commercial services , and Todd King, vice president of product management , both at TSYS , said the embrace of electronic payments may have been slow to get beyond a standing start, but momentum is building.

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Ripple’s XRP Value Spikes While Fundamentals Questioned

PYMNTS

What can you say about a cryptocurrency that shows a meteoric rise, surging more than 80 percent in a day? That maybe … you wished you had some in hand? Beyond that, we’re talking about cryptocurrencies, so the question must be posed, as always, when separating hope from hype: Is it different this time? That means looking into not just “what” happened, but also “why” it happened.

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Who’s Going In The Connected Car Driver’s Seat?

PYMNTS

Before there was Alexa , Bixby , Siri and Google Assistant , there was Emma Nutt. Emma Nutt, born in 1860 in a small town in Maine, was hired by Alexander Graham Bell in 1878 to be the world’s first female telephone switchboard operator. When Bell’s invention — the telephone — was first introduced, phones were sold in pairs, and calls could be made between those two parties only.

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NEW REPORT: The Payments Innovation Guide To Going Global

PYMNTS

Whether in Australia, India, Europe or the United States, mobile phones aren’t just driving interconnectivity, but are the key channel driving innovation in payments and commerce. Still, even in this digital world, where everyone and everything is connected via mobile, going global can be tough for a company looking to expand its operations abroad. Payments landscapes in different regions can vary greatly, and to succeed, businesses need to know the ropes.

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Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

Speaker: Duke Heninger, Partner and Fractional CFO at Ampleo & Creator of CFO System

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Duke Heninger, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

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NACHA Approves Expansion Of Same Day ACH

PYMNTS

NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association — announced that its membership has approved three new rules that will expand Same-Day ACH for all financial institutions and their customers. The first rule will allow Same-Day ACH transactions to be submitted to the ACH Network for an additional two hours every business day, while the second boosts the Same-Day ACH per-transaction dollar limit to $100,000, and the third rule increases the speed of funds availability for certain Same-Day ACH and next

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Citi Virtualizes Accounts For Corporate Treasurers

PYMNTS

The latest corporate banking offering by Citi aims to virtualize treasurer accounts for more personalized, streamlined services. The bank said in an announcement Tuesday (Sept. 25) that it is rolling out Citi Virtual Accounts for institutional clients. The tool lets corporate customers segregate balances within their physical accounts into virtual ones, which can offer enhanced receivables, payments and liquidity management.

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Robotics Process Automation Dwarfs The B2B VC Competition

PYMNTS

Robotics process automation (RPA) is a fast-rising star in the enterprise software space, touting its ability to go beyond surface-level automation and provide true efficiencies to businesses. Investors are clearly impressed, thanks to a funding round for one startup that now claims it may be the fastest-growing enterprise software company in history.

B2B 75
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Amazon Launches API For Alexa Gadgets

PYMNTS

Amazon announced on Tuesday (Sept. 18) the launch of a new API, dubbed Alexa Gadget Toolkit, which is aimed at creating more functions for the Alexa Gadgets. According to Amazon, Alexa Gadgets are accessories that pair to compatible Echo devices via Bluetooth and extend Alexa’s abilities with motors, lights and sound chips, among other things. The toolkit offers developers self-service APIs, including Gadget Interfaces, which provide the metadata of Alexa capabilities on compatible Echo devices.

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Avoiding Lease Accounting Pitfalls in 2025: Lessons Learned from Spreadsheet Errors

Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant

Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.

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Amazon To Launch Storefront That Sells US SMB Products

PYMNTS

Amazon.com Inc. is reportedly gearing up to launch a new store later Monday (September 17) where consumers can shop the U.S. small and medium sized businesses that sell on the platform. According to a report in FoxBusiness.com, the store is being called Amazon Storefronts and gives customers access to a more than one million products from close to 20,000 U.S. businesses.

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Stripe Rolls Out Stripe Terminal To Support In-Store Payments

PYMNTS

Stripe, the payments company, announced on Monday (Sept. 17) the launch of Stripe Terminal, a product that will enable online businesses and platforms to accept in-person payments with Stripe. In a press release, Stripe said Stripe Terminal extends its infrastructure to the physical world, enabling developers to build custom payment experiences for in-person transactions in the same way they have been doing it for online merchants.

Retail 75
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Taxify Beats Uber In Africa

PYMNTS

Taxify , the African ride-hailing app company, is ahead of Uber Technologies, moving from an Estonian startup to a tech unicorn within five years, reported The Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ). According to a report in the paper citing Taxify, the company has 2.4 million active users in six African countries including Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana.

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Anatomy Of A Bank Heist, SWIFT-ly Done By Phishers

PYMNTS

Phishers caught a big one — any way it’s sliced, $81 million is a big haul. The fraudsters who hacked their way into the Bangladesh central bank two years ago got there by getting into software tied to the SWIFT financial platform. The way they got there? By casting a line by email, of course, offering a cautionary tale for anyone who sees a link they are quick to click.

Banking 75
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Back to Basics with Reconciliations

Join us in this webinar, where we share best practices on how to think about the reconciliation work each month, when best to do reconciliations, how they should be prepared, and some common pitfalls to avoid. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how to properly prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations and its impact on the financial statements.