May, 2016

article thumbnail

The Robo-Accountants Are Coming

Boston Startup CFO

A recent story in The New York Times story sent shivers throughout the alleyways of downtown Manhattan with its bold headline, “The Robots Are Coming for Wall Street.” Conjuring images of Arnold Schwarzenegger, armed with scientific calculator and a mandate to snuff out armies of analysts, the story painted a picture of a not-so-distant future in which half of Wall Street loses their jobs to automation software.

article thumbnail

Barclays Taps B2B Payment Startup For Accelerator

PYMNTS

Barclays recently announced the companies picked for its Tel Aviv accelerator program, according to reports, and while officials at the banks touted a focus on payments security, the bank has also targeted corporate payments in its startup batch. Of the 2,000 startups that applied to join the Barclays Accelerator program , just 40 were accepted, the bank’s head of open innovation, Arian Lewis, recently told Finance Magnates.

B2B 56
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Forter Tops Gartner Cool Vendor List For Innovation In Fraud

PYMNTS

It’s no secret that, as fraudsters continue to evolve and increase the sophistication of their tactics, the­ fraud prevention landscape must do the same in order to stay one step ahead. In an effort to show some recognition to the “good guys” out there and the innovative efforts being made to disrupt their respective marketplaces, Gartner has identified the recipients of this year’s “Cool Vendor” recognitions.

Retail 55
article thumbnail

Uber In Dubai Now Includes Yachts

PYMNTS

Though it’s an officially discouraged practice among drivers, Uber has been burning rubber with ambitious partnerships and service expansions over the past few months. What happens when Uber runs out of road to innovate on, though? It goes aquatic. Uber confirmed to CNN on Friday (April 29) that it would embark on a new venture in Dubai over the weekend where a chartered yacht will ferry a lucky dozen riders through the Middle Eastern city’s waterways.

article thumbnail

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

article thumbnail

Why Mobile Matters In Restaurant Payments

PYMNTS

When looking for evidence as to why in-store mobile payments haven’t taken off (a hot topic in Karen Webster’s column this week), there are a number of factors to consider but only one real guiding principle: certainty. Consumers need to know that they can use that method of payment where they like to shop and that it will work the same way each and every time.

More Trending

article thumbnail

The ‘Nine Deadly Costs Of Fraud’

PYMNTS

Online merchants know very well that fraud costs them in many ways – in chargebacks, in false positives, in the friction that’s introduced at checkout that can cost a sale. But there’s nothing like putting the cost of fraud into the parlance that merchants know really well: units sold. Something that Kount says its data shows that merchants must make eight additional sales to make up for the cost of one fraudulent order.

article thumbnail

Neiman Marcus’ Retail Reset

PYMNTS

Misery loves company, or so the saying goes. And while one could perhaps quibble with the exact phrasing there — misery probably, more accurately, likes company but would, on the whole, only love not being miserable anymore — the recent run of numbers in retail certainly brings the old adage to mind. While not quite every retailer took a beating — Amazon had a great quarter, Walmart logged solid results, TJX continued its winning streak and Urban Outfitters and H&M managed to find ways to ke

Retail 51
article thumbnail

YellowPepper Picks A Peck Of Payments In LatAm

PYMNTS

Like many developing areas, Latin America holds promise for payments companies and the burgeoning movement to digital transactions in lieu of coins and paper bills. In an interview with PYMNTS, Alexander Sjogren, YellowPepper’s CTO, stated that his firm has evolved beyond its initial underpinnings in the mobile banking services segment focusing on underbanked and underserved populations.

article thumbnail

What Consumers Want In Transaction Alerts

PYMNTS

[link]. In the age of sophisticated cyberfraud, and more specifically fraudulent payments, it’s not enough for cardholders around the globe to wait till their statements arrive in the mail (paper or electronic) and ferret out suspicious activity. By then the damage has been done, the trail has run cold. To that end, TSYS, the global payments solutions provider, said earlier this month that it has begun offering its cardholder alerts solution to its clients based in Europe, with an eye on pushing

article thumbnail

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

Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, 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.

article thumbnail

Bitcoin Creator Craig Wright Steps Forward

PYMNTS

After a few years of speculation — and a couple of fairly notable wrong guesses — the real creator of bitcoin has been identified — mostly because he identified himself. Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has stepped forward and admitted to being the real “Satoshi Nakamoto.” Apart from the claim, Wright has also submitted proof in the form of coins known to be owned by bitcoin’s creator.

49
article thumbnail

Why It Pays To Be Thick In Mobile Payments

PYMNTS

Starbucks and Dunkin’ have cracked it. Walmart Pay seems to have all of the ingredients to do it, too. Facebook and Messenger could but haven’t yet. Android Pay has acknowledged that it’s critical to its success and its latest announcements suggest they are working on it. Visa and MasterCard could totally nail it. We don’t know enough about Chase Pay’s plans to be able to say one way or the other.

article thumbnail

What “60 Minutes” Missed About FinTech

PYMNTS

Over the weekend, CBS brought FinTech to prime time during a segment of its “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday (May 1). The program offered an exciting and broad overview of how startups in the space are using technology to innovate the delivery of payments and financial services. Lesley Stahl, who hosted the segment, used Stripe as an example of how FinTech is transforming payments and, in particular, how they simplify the process new merchants face when attempting to accept payments online.

article thumbnail

Payroll, And Other B2B Payments, Ounce By Golden Ounce

PYMNTS

Paper checks. Foreign exchange rates. Settlement times. All points of pain and friction in cross-border payments and all factors that can stymie cash flow for firms and even the smallest sole proprietors or freelancers that operate in a global, always-on economy. Earlier this month, GoldMoney , a FinTech that operates a financial services and payments platform that uses gold to settle transactions globally in any currency, launched its Gold Payroll and Gold Payout applications.

B2B 47
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Daily Data Dive: Chip Card Migration Stats

PYMNTS

The latest stats released by MasterCard give more optimism about the U.S. EMV adoption rate by merchants and issuers. And for today’s Daily Data Dive 5-in-1, PYMNTS has broken those stats down: 1.2 Million | The number of chip-active merchant locations as of April 30, 2016. 121 | The percentage increase in EMV-enabled merchant locations since the Oct. 1 deadline. 67 | The percentage of U.S.

Numbers 46
article thumbnail

Will AP Rise To The Challenge As A Strategic Function Of The Enterprise?

PYMNTS

If you think of the rise of corporate America over the last century, the function of the accounts payable department probably doesn’t come to mind as one of the main players. But something has happened over the last few years, according to Coupa VP of Strategy and Product Marketing Donna Wilczek: Technology has enabled AP professionals to become strategic and massively important to the success of any corporation, large or small.

article thumbnail

Top Digital Banking Players Ranked

PYMNTS

The digital banking industry is heating up — and fast. That’s why, in the May edition of the PYMNTS Digital Banking Tracker™ , we’ve profiled 58 players from the FinTech and consumer banking space, including 10 additions to the Tracker: CashControl, CSI, Finex Banking Solutions, HelloWallet, Innofis, Kony, Money Lover, SilverWiz, The One Place Capital Limited and Q2 Software, Inc.

Banking 46
article thumbnail

Trade Fraud Is ‘Ground Zero’ For Banks And Blockchain

PYMNTS

Banks may not always be up for overhauling their operations with a largely untested, disruptive technology, but new reports suggest the threat of fraud in one area of corporate finance is encouraging financial institutions to adopt distributed ledger technology in growing volumes. Reports by Bloomberg on Sunday (May 22) said banks are examining ways to protect themselves against fraud in the trade finance sector, worth $4 trillion in today’s market.

Banking 46
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

The Dawn of Banking Voice Technology

PYMNTS

Remember when you first asked Siri some silly question only to receive a response that indicated she was onto your shtick and potentially not as thoroughly amused by it as you were? That, as it turns out, was the good old days of voice technology assistance. Today the incorporation of voice technology into daily activities runs the gamut, from taking music requests on-demand to ordering from Amazon to typing your texts for you.

article thumbnail

Say ‘Hello’ To … Voice Banking?

PYMNTS

“Siri, help me find the nearest Starbucks.”. “Hey Cortana, play some yacht rock.”. “Alexa, pay cable bill.”. This month’s Digital Banking Tracker™ cover story features an interview with Ed Metzger, Santander UK’s Head of Innovation about their early feedback from incorporating a voice assistant into their student-focused SmartBank app – and what’s next for voice technology in banking.

Banking 46
article thumbnail

Artificial Intelligence Seeks Real Shoppers

PYMNTS

Let’s check in with who’s on the AI (artificial intelligence) train. Apple kicked things off this year, announcing back in January that it had purchased Emotient, an AI tech startup in the facial recognition business. Did Apple say why it bought that company? Of course, it did not ; mind your own business. Jump ahead to spring, and the next big company in the retail space (specifically, the biggest company in eCommerce) to make an AI-related move this year was Amazon.

Math 46
article thumbnail

MasterCard Makes Robots Pay

PYMNTS

We don’t have to look far to see the ways in which cartoons and comics of the past – with their futuristic tools and services – are influencing the advancing technologies we see hitting the market today. Though we may not have reached the threshold of flying cars and warp drives just yet, robotics are quickly starting to change the ways in which humans approach many different aspects of our everyday lives.

Retail 45
article thumbnail

Usage-Based Monetization Musts: A Roadmap for Sustainable Revenue Growth

Speaker: David Warren and Kevin O’Neill Stoll

Transitioning to a usage-based business model offers powerful growth opportunities but comes with unique challenges. How do you validate strategies, reduce risks, and ensure alignment with customer value? Join us for a deep dive into designing effective pilots that test the waters and drive success in usage-based revenue. Discover how to develop a pilot that captures real customer feedback, aligns internal teams with usage metrics, and rethinks sales incentives to prioritize lasting customer eng

article thumbnail

Clothing Rental Extends Its Lease

PYMNTS

Although the traditional retail industry in the U.S. continues to struggle mightily , surely there are verticals within it that are largely immune to such troubles by sheer virtue of the fact that they trade in essential items … right? Sort of, but also — not exactly. If we break down “essential items” into three categories — food, clothing and shelter — we’re looking at a trio of verticals wherein each one has still had to weather the storm of the current retail climate in its own way.

article thumbnail

Should Obama ‘Heed The Call’ On Bitcoin?

PYMNTS

President Barack Obama and his administration get a lot of demands, to say the least. Stop ISIS, bring peace to the Middle East, clean up the economy, create more jobs, fix the education system, lower taxes, etc., etc. Of course, that’s just what comes with the territory. One thing that’s probably not higher on that rapidly growing list?

article thumbnail

This App Makes Credit Card Payments Automatic

PYMNTS

There’s a new app in town that wants to make it easier to remember to pay those credit cards. Or as its co-founder Jason Brown told Mashable : “It’s kind of like a self driving car for your credit card.” Yes, the apps have taken over. And it has one goal: making sure those credit card companies don’t slap the consumer with another late fee again.

article thumbnail

Making Strategy A Numbers Game

PYMNTS

Chief financial officers have a lot on their plate — from ensuring an entire company is financially viable to managing activities that make that company not only efficient but also profitable. A day in the life of the CFO in 2016 looks drastically different from just five or 10 years ago. With a significant shift away from manual processes and the onset of new technologies, a CFO’s responsibilities have broadened to encompass more than simply managing the P&L.

Numbers 45
article thumbnail

Solve Your Firm's Automation Complexities Once and For All

Speaker: Mark Stovel

When it comes to automating, many firms focus on finding the latest tech, believing that efficiency is something achieved through new tools. Yet true efficiency is achieved by delivering real value to clients, not merely by upgraded systems. Without a clear approach, no level of automation can overcome the complexities of serving every client’s needs.