PYMNTS

DECEMBER 1, 2019

In an effort to expand access to financial institutions (FIs), the Central Bank of Nigeria is planning to license more payment providers, Bloomberg reported on Saturday (Nov. 30). . The goal is to improve Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate by 20 percent, bringing it to 80 percent by the end of 2020. “The provision of licenses to several players will help support innovation and competition as all parties work to increase their customer base,” Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said

Manufacturing 101

Manufacturing Banking Financial Systems Startups 101

CFA Institute

DECEMBER 12, 2019

Based on the risk-adjusted performance of all three categories of private real estate funds, investors are paying billions in economically unwarranted fees.

Economics 54

Economics Performance Measuring Financial Analysis Communication 54

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 1, 2019

If microchip supplier Qualcomm wins its case on appeal, the cost of connected cars using 5G technology will skyrocket, automakers and suppliers said in court filings on Friday (Nov. 29), Reuters reported. Judge Lucy Koh ruled in May that Qualcomm, the world’s largest supplier of mobile phone chips, is a monopoly and has to change the way it does business.

Compliance 97

Compliance Technology 97

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 19, 2019

For PayPal, eyeing growth and eyeing new markets, the gaze is, at least in part, turned eastward. News came Thursday (Dec. 19) that the company has closed its deal to buy a majority equity stake in China’s GoPay (the formal, official name of the company is Guofubao Information Technology Co. Ltd.). The deal had originally been announced at the end of September.

eCommerce 93

eCommerce Technology Marketing Sales 93

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

Investments

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 13, 2019

The holiday season is in full swing. That means opening up wallets and purses at the point of sale, which often means paying with cash … and cash? Well, that means trips to the ATM. For fraudsters, armed with new technologies, the ATM is fertile ground for fraud. In an interview with PYMNTS, David Phister, director of systems security product management at Diebold Nixdorf , said that when it comes to combatting fraud, “holiday seasons are always tough.

Securities 90

Securities Compliance Technology Sales 90

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 6, 2019

Consumers — especially millennials and Generation Z — are looking for new commerce experiences during the 2019 holiday season. However, they are also hesitant to pay for those new experiences with credit cards or other traditional financing options. Debt from the previous holiday shopping season has made these younger consumers credit-shy, but it has not limited their appetite for holiday spending.

Retail 87

Retail Finance Planning Technology 87

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 26, 2019

The Central Bank of the Bahamas is planning to start a rollout of its new digital currency on Friday (Dec. 27) in Exuma. Called Project Sand Dollar, the name of the currency will also be the sand dollar, according to a press release. The move is long-awaited and comes after years of work through the Bahamian Payments System Modernization Initiative (PSMI), which began in the early 2000s.

Currencies 83

Currencies Banking Retail Accounting 83

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 16, 2019

With the U.K. one of the largest FinTech hubs of the world today, initiatives like Open Banking demonstrate the opportunity for regulatory mandates to encourage innovation and competition — even in markets where such regulatory mandates don’t exist. The capabilities to unlock bank data and integrate new services into emerging FinTech platforms via API integrations is a FinTech trend that hasn’t ignored the B2B payments arena.

Compliance 81

Compliance B2B B2C Prioritization 81

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 19, 2019

Savor this moment — these coming weeks, the next few months, the year or two that will follow. These are the last moments before artificial intelligence (AI) really starts to have a massive impact on one’s daily life, before the world really turns to AI. That is not meant to be mournful, or an expression of grief for a way of life — a non-AI way of life — that is on its way out.

Analyzing Data 81

Analyzing Data Healthcare Technology Investments 81

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.

Accounting

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 1, 2019

Small business accountants have said they are now forced to manually transfer data between payroll and human resources solution providers Gusto and Zenefits after the two companies abruptly ended their application programming interface (API) integration, AccountingToday reported. While a spokesperson for Zenefits told the publication that “Zenefits still has an integration with Gusto for payroll,” reports noted that the integration does not support the ability for small business acco

Securities 81

Securities Accounting Banking B2B 81

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Policy advisers at a leading think tank said that China should introduce a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence in the finance sector, according to a report from Reuters on Sunday (Dec 22). The same framework should be in place to improve technology used by regulators in efforts to strengthen supervision throughout the industry, the think tank also says.

Finance 81

Finance Forecasting Securities Technology 81

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 12, 2019

Executives at Home Depot said opioid addiction in the U.S. might be part of the reason for a recent escalation of thefts in its stores, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday (Dec. 11). . An organized band of thieves are swiping merchandise totaling millions and stowing the goods in warehouses, the company said. The thefts — which retailers call shrink — will result in lower operating profit margins in 2020, Home Depot executives told analysts and investors during a meeting.

Profit and Loss 80

Profit and Loss Retail Securities Finance 80

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 2, 2019

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has accelerated its probe into Deutsche Bank’s participation in a $220 billion Danske Bank money laundering scheme, Reuters reported on Monday (Dec. 2), citing four sources. The DoJ is inquiring if Germany’s largest bank Deutsche assisted with moving dirty money to the U.S. from Denmark’s largest lender Danske , one source told Reuters.

Construction 80

Construction Banking Securities 80

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.

Accounting

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 29, 2019

Samsung disclosed that it will introduce an “artificial human” called Neon at CES 2020 on Jan. 7 that is totally different than its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Bixby, Digital Trends reported. The limited information about Neon was shared on Samsung’s Twitter account, and includes an “Artificial Human” teaser in several languages with the tagline “Have you met an ‘artificial’?”.

Accounting 78

Accounting Technology 78

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 30, 2019

Silicon Valley startup Plus.ai is thought to be the first company to deploy a self-driving commercial truck to haul 40,000 pounds of butter roughly 42 hours cross-country from Tulare, California to Quakertown, Pennsylvania, ZDNet reported. The company’s Level 4 autonomous semi-tractor-trailer completed the 2,800-mile run for Land O’Lakes in under three days.

Transportation 77

Transportation Manufacturing Compliance Startups 77

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 24, 2019

Exceeding forecasts , Dec. 21, the last Saturday shopping day before Christmas 2019, has been confirmed as the single biggest retail sales day in U.S. History. According to retail research firm Customer Growth Partners, consumers on Super Saturday spent a total of $34.4 billion and that exceeded 2019 Black Friday sales by 10 percent. “Paced by the ‘Big Four’ mega-retailers — Walmart, Amazon, Costco and Target — Super Saturday was boosted by the best traffic our team has seen in years,” Craig Jo

Sales 74

Sales Retail Forecasting Economics 74

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The growing significance of the gig economy is changing how businesses handle their payments. Corporations recognize that paying freelancers for ad hoc projects is a different ball game than issuing regular payroll disbursements to hourly or salaried employees or contracting with large suppliers. Gig workers frequently want compensation that is delivered rapidly — not at the end of a two-week pay period — and more than a third of financially struggling gig workers would switch platforms to get p

Accounts Payable 74

Accounts Payable B2B Transportation Accounting 74

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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.

Reconciliations

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 2, 2019

Shifting employee landscapes, changes in workers’ demands over how and when they get paid, and technological innovation have combined to open the floodgates for payroll FinTech. However, a rise in new service providers has added opportunity for industry consolidation, with payroll companies finding acquisitions a strategic way to augment their offerings, and keep pace with evolving needs among businesses and their employees.

B2B 74

B2B Technology Accounting Marketing 74

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 11, 2019

The interchange fees associated with commercial card acceptance are the latest target of commercial card optimization company Revolution Payments, which announced a new service designed to further reduce that burden on business-to-business (B2B) suppliers. In a press release Wednesday (Dec. 11), Revolution Payments announced its interchange optimization service to help B2B companies reduce interchange fees by optimizing Level 3 data processing.

B2B 73

B2B 73

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 1, 2019

The Bank of Russia has voiced its support for a ban on cryptocurrency payments, saying that “private cryptocurrencies cannot be equated with fiat money and cannot be legal tender.”. “If it is decided to ban cryptocurrencies as a means of payment at the legislative level, we consider it appropriate to support this position,” the banking authority said , adding that “we continue to believe that cryptocurrencies carry significant risks, including in the field of laundering of proceeds from crime an

Banking 73

Banking Securities Finance Technology 73

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 12, 2019

Though the U.S. continues to take significant steps toward a faster payments ecosystem , the market undoubtedly lags behind others across the world in the path toward real-time payments ubiquity. There are a variety of reasons why this is the case, which stem beyond one of the most common explanations — that the U.S., unlike markets like the U.K. and Europe, lacks the same government push for change, and in some cases, mandatory changes.

B2B 72

B2B Technology Marketing Securities 72

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

Sales

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 10, 2019

Visa has added a new partner in its quest to simplify, digitize and drive costs down in the global remittances space with its real-time push payments platform Visa Direct. Visa Direct has been used to process 2 billion transactions in 2019, a number it is looking to grow in 2020. Visa Direct was designed to make sending money “as easy as sending a text message,” as opposed to the status quo consumers and small businesses are stuck with around the world: manual, paper-based processes, high fees

Securities 72

Securities Numbers Accounting Technology 72

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Visa is teaming up with TD Bank to introduce a new solution to ease money transfers between Canadian and U.S. accounts, Visa announced Monday (Dec. 23). . Powered by Visa Direct, the latest solution — TD Bank (US) to TD (Canada) Transfer — enables real-time transfers for Canadian users to move money from their U.S. TD Bank accounts quickly and easily. .

Banking 72

Banking Accounting Planning 72

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 12, 2019

The company behind QuickBooks , Intuit , announced it is releasing an expanded suite of online payroll offerings to help small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) automate payroll and tax filing, according to a press release. The suite has built-in tax penalty protection and helps with access to services like human resources (HR), benefits and compensation for injured workers.

B2B 71

B2B 71

PYMNTS

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Almost everyone has experienced a quick food run that turned into a 45-minute ordeal, but such delays are bad news for both quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and patrons. Long drive-through lines can overwhelm employees and frustrate customers, occasionally irritating the latter enough that they leave without making purchases. It is no wonder that so many big-name QSRs are turning to the latest digital technologies to tackle this problem. .

Concentration 71

Concentration Prioritization Data Analysis Startups 71

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.

Marketing