Sat.Mar 09, 2019 - Fri.Mar 15, 2019

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Sephora Launches Its First Credit Card

PYMNTS

Sephora, the beauty retailer, announced on Thursday (March 14) the launch of a new credit card program. The company said in a press release that starting in the spring, it will offer the Sephora credit card, Sephora Visa® credit card and Sephora Visa Signature® credit card to its retail customers. The credit cards will provide customers with more ways to earn rewards for their purchases, the retailer said in the release.

Retail 86
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The NIFTY 50 No Longer Reflects the Indian Economy

CFA Institute

Why do the benchmark indices in India and the United States display completely opposite trends relative to GDP growth?

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Trending Sources

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How Wells Fargo Uses AI, Biometrics To Fight Money Laundering

PYMNTS

Digital banking customers of today aren’t looking for the bank with the newest features — they’re looking for the bank that can keep their data safe. Any security mishap can send customers to one of the other digital banking apps that are ready and waiting for them. In the new Digital Banking Tracker , PYMNTS examines the ways digital banking is changing as security measures grow more stringent, and challenger banks look to amass more customers.

Banking 83
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Helping Community Banks Turn On The Innovation Switch

PYMNTS

Innovation has always been important for community banks, but the driving force of digitization over the last decade has greatly sped up the pace, said Kevin Tweddle, chief innovation officer for the Independent Community Bankers of America ( ICBA ). That push, he noted, hasn’t come from within the financial services industry proper, but primarily from the so-called “GAFA group” of Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple — and the many ways they’ve made doing business simpler and smoother for consume

Banking 82
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The Human Side of Finance: The Intersectionality of People, Culture, Adaptability, and Resilience

Speaker: Melissa Hurrington

Finance isn’t just about the numbers. It’s about the people behind them. In a world of constant disruption, resilient finance teams aren’t just operationally efficient. They are adaptable, engaged, and deeply connected to a strong organizational culture. Success lies at the intersection of people, culture, adaptability, and resilience. Finance leaders who master this balance will build teams that thrive through uncertainty and drive long-term business impact.

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How Do You Get To A ‘Perfect’ Payments Place?

PYMNTS

Here’s an exercise that may come off as too academic – like a debate over how many angels fit on a pinhead – but is really among the most vital for not only PYMNTS readers, but pretty much any other business operators: What is the perfect payments experience? That question formed a hook for a recent PYMNTS discussion between Karen Webster and Kurt Bilafer, executive vice president and chief revenue officer at Yapstone.

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Global Payments In Crosshairs Of Treasurers’ Biggest Challenges

PYMNTS

Volatile times make for sleepless nights for corporate executives, particularly those whose job it is to manage the cash positions of their organizations. For corporate treasurers, Manish Kohli, global head of payments and receivables at Citi , told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, three concerns tend to top the list: geopolitical uncertainty, cyber threats and disruption resulting from the emergence of new business models in an interconnected global market.

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PayPal’s Path To Instant Money In The Bank

PYMNTS

Money moves only as fast as payments infrastructure will allow. To that end, there’s a bottleneck. The gig economy is gaining steam, as roughly a third (more than 35 percent) of U.S. workers are participating in part-time or project-based employment, and increasingly they want to get paid when the work is done. Roughly 85 percent of the several thousand gig workers we surveyed said they would work more often if they could be paid faster.

Banking 76
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NACHA Postpones Same-Day ACH Window Due To Fed Board

PYMNTS

NACHA, national administrator of the ACH network, said a third processing window for same-day transactions will be postponed for six months until the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Fed Board) approves the initiative. In September of 2018, NACHA said it would expand same day ACH transactions and establish a “new window” that would “allow Same Day ACH files to be submitted until 4:45 p.m.

Banking 76
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BigCommerce Takes On B2B eCommerce

PYMNTS

Online commerce solution provider BigCommerce is adding business-to-business eCommerce to its suite of services. The company said in a press release Tuesday (March 12) that, along with a slew of partners, it has launched BigCommerce for B2B to provide B2B sellers with resources to more efficiently sell online. The firm is working with several partners that offer their own B2B solutions, which integrate their tools into the BigCommerce for B2B platform.

B2B 76
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Maximizing Profit and Productivity: The New Era of AI-Powered Accounting

Speaker: Yohan Lobo

In the accounting world, staying ahead means embracing the tools that allow you to work smarter, not harder. Outdated processes and disconnected systems can hold your organization back, but the right technologies can help you streamline operations, boost productivity, and improve client delivery. Dive into the strategies and innovations transforming accounting practices.

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Commerce Department Taps R3, Mastercard For Trade Finance Council

PYMNTS

The U.S. Commerce Department is expanding its Trade Finance Advisory Council (TFAC), having recently appointed 21 new members to the group in an effort to explore innovation in and access to trade finance. Among the new members is blockchain company R3, according to Bitcoin Exchange Guide reports on Thursday (March 14), which will be represented in the Council by the firm’s Head of Trade and Supply Chain Alisa DiCaprio.

Finance 76
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FinTech Pressures FI Giants To Strengthen SMB Lending In Mexico

PYMNTS

Some of the largest global financial institutions are taking steps further into Mexico’s small business lending and finance space, the result of heightened competitive pressure imposed by FinTechs and alternative lenders in the market, reports in the Wall Street Journal said Thursday (March 14). The publication pointed to Goldman Sachs as the latest FI giant to grow operations in Mexico, after it provided a $100 million credit facility to Credijusto, a FinTech startup that makes three-year

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Can PSD2 Get Past Its GDPR Problem As Deadlines Hit?

PYMNTS

Ladies and gentlemen, it has finally arrived. From this day forward (March 14), businesses covered by the European Union’s (EU’s) Second Payment Services Directive ( PSD2 ) are supposed to have a testing regime that conforms to the FinTech regulation. However, that’s only the foreshadowing. The bigger deadline comes on Sept. 14, bringing requirements related to strong consumer authentication and other tasks designed to establish a secure, Open Banking environment.

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Netherlands Is First EU Country To Release GDPR Fining Policy

PYMNTS

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DDPA) in the Netherlands has released its own General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fining policy, according to reports , and is the first European Union (EU) country to do so. The GDPR stipulates that the maximum fine levied against a company can be 4 percent of its global revenue or €20 million, whichever is higher.

Numbers 74
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Smarter Card Solutions: Meeting the Challenges of Mid-Market Travel & Expense

Our 2025 Center Travel Survey is clear: as corporate travel increases, so does corporate credit cards distribution, and a rise in off-platform travel booking. This 61% rise causes various challenges: compliance, spend control, reporting problems, and a lack of visibility across organizations. To evolve with the ever-changing needs of travelers, decision-makers need a better solution.

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Mastercard: The Why Of The Ethoca Buy

PYMNTS

In eCommerce, friction is a four-letter word. However, friction done right — for the right consumer, for the right transaction, at just the right moment — can actually enhance the consumer experience. In other words, friction with a dash of intelligence mixed into the process can cut down on fraud, which helps, well, everybody in the commerce ecosystem — from consumers to issuers to merchants.

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SWIFT Signals Further Openness To Blockchain?

PYMNTS

The movement to bring blockchain to cross-border payments proceeds apace. Might SWIFT be giving a nod, at least partially, toward the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT)? As noted by OracleTimes , it seems the messaging network that ties banks and other financial firms together may indeed be open to DLT — if not directly, then deployed by some of its network.

Banking 74
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For Omnichannel, The Revenge Of Brick-And-Mortar

PYMNTS

To lift a few lines from T.S. Eliot, “between the idea and the reality … life is very long.” That sentiment is a good place to start when thinking about commerce, specifically omnichannel — an idea that has come, and perhaps keeps coming, and where the reality has yet to catch up to that promise. In an interview with PYMNTS, Vijay Sondhi, CEO of NMI , noted that the promise omnichannel had five or 10 years ago was vast, and held with it the idea that commerce, as an activity, would be seamless a

Retail 73
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How The UK Lets High-Level Money Laundering Go Unchecked

PYMNTS

Financial institutions (FIs) must carefully balance staying compliant and keeping their customers safe, all without introducing frictions that could scare customers away. However, despite the friction points that can get introduced into the process due to anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, FIs have no choice but to comply, or they risk fines and loss of customer trust.

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Bringing AI to Finance: How to Leverage Technology for Efficiency and Control

Finance teams are balancing more than ever, but manual processes shouldn’t slow you down. In this ebook from BILL, discover how AI is transforming finance—automating AP, expense tracking, and document management to reduce errors, increase efficiency, and improve financial control. Learn how real companies are using AI-powered automation to streamline workflows, detect anomalies, and gain deeper insights.

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Chipotle And Venmo Link Up For Loyalty Program

PYMNTS

Chipotle Mexican Grill has teamed up with Venmo to expand its loyalty program amid huge growth of its digital platform. The quick-service restaurant (QSR) has introduced the points-based program, called Chipotle Rewards, in select markets, CNBC reported. CEO Brian Niccol said the rewards program was what Chipotle customers had most requested, and that the company has recently been putting more energy into its digital offerings.

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Mobile Devices Take On SMB FinTech Functionality, Usability

PYMNTS

As the financial services space focuses on digitizing offerings for their small business customers, much of these efforts are targeting online banking portals accessed via desktop. But mobile devices are an increasingly important part of a small business’ financial management strategy, adding another channel on which banks and FinTechs must innovate to disrupt and improve SMB finances.

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Verizon 5G Network Launch Foreshadows Mobile Commerce Changes

PYMNTS

Score one for the Midwest: Verizon said this week (March 13) it will launch its 5G network in Chicago and Minneapolis on April 11. The announcement from the mobile network provider serves as the latest demonstration that 5G is coming, and that retailers and payment services providers should get ready to operate in the 5G world. It’s probably too much to say that 2019 will be the year of 5G – deployments and use cases, especially in retail and payments, are unlikely to hit a critical mass this ye

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Mastercard Strengthens Ties With Finexio For Supplier Payments

PYMNTS

Mastercard and B2B payment network Finexio are entering into a strategic partnership to strengthen their supplier payment offering. In a press release , Finexio said it will allow customers to pay their vendors using Mastercard-branded virtual cards, part of their broader effort of promoting digital B2B payments in the U.S. “The electronic payments space is growing at an accelerated rate; however, traditional paper checks remain the primary vehicle used for business payments,” said F

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Say ‘Goodbye’ to Clunky Spreadsheets and Say ‘Hello’ to Month-End Automation

Technology is rapidly changing the way accountants perform and manage month-end activities. Spreadsheets, emails, and shared drives no longer need to slow you down. In under four weeks, your team can start reaping the benefits of month-end close automation by vastly reducing spreadsheets, cut down on reconciliation work, speed up the month-end close, and better manage your remote team.

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Google Launch Puts Spotlight On Digital Accessibility Issues

PYMNTS

The release of a new Google app development tool is among the latest steps to try to bring more mobile accessibility to people with disabilities — a push that’s been going on in the background of digital retail and associated areas almost since the beginning. Here’s the news announced this week (March 13) by Google , via a blog post from Sid Janga of the company’s Central Accessibility Team: Google has launched an open source project called Accessibility Scanner for iOS.

Retail 64
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CULedger, IBM To Bring Blockchain-Based Services To Credit Unions

PYMNTS

CULedger , a credit union, has inked a partnership with IBM to create blockchain services geared toward credit unions. According to a report in Fintech Futures , the idea behind the project is to use permission-based blockchain technology so credit unions can reach more members that don’t have access to financial services. With a permissioned blockchain network , services can be shared between credit unions, which could improve identification authentication and compliance surrounding regul

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China Tests Facial Recognition Subway Payment

PYMNTS

A subway operator in Shenzhen, China is testing facial recognition software, powered by a 5G network, to pay for entry, according to reports. The face would be linked to a payment account, although whether the technology will work for similar faces or twins is not known. Right now the experiment is being limited to one station, and people will be able to scan faces at the same place they enter subway cards or tap their phones.

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Billing Takes On A New Look, Thanks To Digital Payments

PYMNTS

Let’s a take a moment to celebrate the paper boys and girls who — showing early commitment to initiative, hard work and entrepreneurship — handled a task that now vexes so many consumers and B2B operations in the digital world. They managed subscription billing for multiple accounts in particular neighborhoods, as James Messer, CEO and founder of online billing platform Gotransverse , pointed out in a recent PYMNTS interview with Karen Webster.

B2C 62
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Outsourcing Vs. In-House: The Ultimate Battle For Better Collections

Speaker: Susan Richards

Your past-due accounts are growing, cash flow is tightening, and the pressure is on. The big question: Do you handle the collections internally or outsource to experts? Both strategies come with advantages and risks - but which one delivers the best impact for your business? In this session we’ll dive deep into the in-house vs. outsourcing debate, examining cost-effectiveness, efficiency, compliance risks, and overall recovery success rates.