PYMNTS

JULY 24, 2018

MoneyGram and Visa announced today (July 24) that they have partnered to deliver real-time digital disbursements to MoneyGram customers using Visa’s push payments platform, Visa Direct. Launching in October in two key markets, Mexico and the Philippines, MoneyGram will expand its options in which receivers from those markets may receive and use funds instantly — via their bank-issued Visa-branded debit card or Visa-branded prepaid card — and senders may choose the option by which to send those

B2C 89

B2C Banking Securities Accounting 89

PYMNTS

JULY 27, 2018

United Nations (UN) chief António Guterres has warned staff and member states that it is running out of cash. In a letter, he urged countries to pay what they owe as soon as possible, according to Reuters. The letter sent to members stated that, as of June 30, the core UN budget had a deficit of $139 million and the United Nations had “never faced such a difficult cash flow situation this early in the calendar year.”.

Budgeting 57

Budgeting Securities 57

PYMNTS

JULY 25, 2018

If the Business Email Compromise (BEC) scam isn’t on the radar of every corporate finance executive, it certainly should be. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently issued a public service announcement warning that the BEC scam has now redirected $12 billion worldwide , much of that now having to be written off as a loss for corporates unable to recover the funds.

Corporate Finance 55

Corporate Finance Accounting Finance Securities 55

PYMNTS

JULY 25, 2018

When eBay announced that it would be accepting Apple Pay , it wasn’t the only new development for the online marketplace. The company also revealed a partnership with Square to offer financing to companies selling on eBay, heating up competition with its rival, Amazon. Bloomberg reported Tuesday (July 24) that eBay will begin offering merchants up to $100,000 in financing through Square Capital.

B2C 53

B2C B2B Finance Marketing 53

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

JULY 23, 2018

This one may be familiar: Wide receiver and cryptographer walk into a bar and … set the data security landscape on its ear. No? Haven’t heard that one, hmm? Since sports analogies abound in all corners of writing, try this one on for size: blocking and tackling — the digital kind. The kind that defends sensitive data against bad actors and leaves their best efforts crumpled on the field.

Securities 53

Securities Accounting Education Numbers 53

PYMNTS

JULY 24, 2018

It’s a striking difference: A new Visa study has found that digital accounts for 38 percent of consumer retail purchases, but when it comes to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), only 15 percent of their sales are conducted via eCommerce. That signals opportunity for smart, nimble merchants that can get ahead of the curve — or potential disaster for retailers that cannot.

eCommerce 50

eCommerce Retail Securities Sales 50

PYMNTS

JULY 26, 2018

Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes Worldpay ’s work on payment technology for drones. In addition, Singapore- based Grab is rolling out new services in Thailand, and Indonesia’s FinAccel has notched $30 million in Series B funding. Singapore’s Grab is introducing three new services in Thailand, as the ride-hailing service seeks to be a one-stop shop for users in the Southeast Asia region, Deal Street Asia reported.

eCommerce 49

eCommerce Technology Banking 49

PYMNTS

JULY 23, 2018

Paul McCartney and The Beatles may have told us that money can’t buy us love , but new research claims that it can certainly buy us happiness. And how much money consumers need to be happy. A recent Gallup World Poll tells us consumers whose households earn between $60,000 and $75,000, on average, have reached the highest level of emotional wellbeing, and more income won’t make them happier.

Finance 49

Finance Education Retail Accounting 49

PYMNTS

JULY 26, 2018

Payments company Stripe is rolling out a new solution that lets businesses create and issue their own credit and debit cards, the company announced on Thursday (July 26). In a press release, Stripe announced the launch of Stripe Issuing, its service that enables companies to create their own cards, both physical and virtual, via an API call. The company noted that its solution lowers barriers to entry and accelerates the time it takes for a business to issue its own cards, which, Stripe noted, c

Economics 48

Economics Banking B2B 48

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

JULY 25, 2018

A CFO’s job doesn’t become more complex as a company grows simply because the business is spending more money. Increasingly, financial executives who start out tracking accounts payable (AP) volumes and chasing down coworkers’ expense reports will quickly find that the position demands a watchful eye on all aspects and categories of corporate spend — from travel and expenses (T&E) to procurement.

Accounts Payable 48

Accounts Payable Accounting CFO Technology 48

PYMNTS

JULY 27, 2018

FitPay , the startup technology platform that adds contactless payment capabilities to wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, is looking to serve consumers who own bitcoin with a new payment device. The product, which is dubbed Flip , will come with a preloaded amount of U.S. dollars that are exchanged from the user’s existing cryptocurrency account.

Advertising 44

Advertising Currencies Startups Retail 44

PYMNTS

JULY 25, 2018

The move to bring blockchain beyond cryptocurrency confines — and toward more commercial use cases — continues, with far-flung projects making headlines. In the telecom world, South Korean firm KT said it has applied blockchain to its commercial network. The telecom, as reported by ZDNet , has built nodes that have brought blockchain to its national network, specifically its “ultra-fast” offering that is tied to processing speed.

Startups 43

Startups Securities Technology Marketing 43

PYMNTS

JULY 26, 2018

Simple ideas can sometimes have a surprisingly powerful impact. They can also be harder to engineer from the outside than one might assume. Such is the story of UNTUCKit , the menswear firm premised on an incredibly simple idea: Men should be able to wear their shirts untucked without looking sloppy. It is the brainchild of Chris Riccobono, a former healthcare consultant who spent 10 years wishing he had a dress shirt that looked good untucked.

Retail 43

Retail Healthcare Valuation Startups 43

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

JULY 27, 2018

To enable its customers to buy and sell five digital currencies, TransferGo has rolled out a crypto trading facility. Users can trade bitcoin, bitcoin cash, Ripple, Litecoin and Ethereum through the service, according to reports. “We’ve launched this cryptocurrency trading facility in response to demand from our user base,” said TransferGo Founder and CEO Daumantas Dvilinskas.

Currencies 43

Currencies Investments Technology Marketing 43

PYMNTS

JULY 25, 2018

Cabot Square Capital, a U.K. financial services firm, on Wednesday (July 25) sold its entire stake in 321 Crédito, a Portuguese consumer finance lender, to Banco CTT, the bank run by Portugal’s privatized national postal service. According to a report in Financial Times , the deal was worth more than €140m. With a specialty in car loans, 321 Crédit has been a Cabot Square Capital company since 2014.

Banking 43

Banking Finance Sales Investments 43

PYMNTS

JULY 23, 2018

Legacy banks around the world have been under tremendous pressure in recent years to transform their business models, as upstart FinTech companies are removing the barriers to entry and credit access that have kept large numbers of growth businesses and consumers out of the market. The development of new technologies is threatening to disrupt the business models of many of these traditional players, as fast, efficient and low-cost platforms are providing access to capital that traditional banks

Banking 43

Banking B2B Startups Compliance 43

PYMNTS

JULY 24, 2018

Madonna. Cher. Ringo. Beyoncé. Sometimes a first name is all you need. Instant identification. And likely an instant conversation follows right on the heels of that one-name utterance. Outsized personalities, after all, get us thinking and chatting. So here are two names that need no dropping, if you’ve been a reader of this space for the last several years.

Transportation 43

Transportation Numbers Marketing Technology 43

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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

JULY 27, 2018

Facebook and several key executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are facing federal class action lawsuits alleging the social network made false and misleading statements related to the decline of monthly active users prior to the second quarter earnings report. Pomeranz Law Firm announced that a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging the company and certain officers made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose the decline

Currencies 43

Currencies Planning 43

PYMNTS

JULY 27, 2018

Another quarterly earnings reports, another rush of pleased Amazon investors hurrying to boost the stock in after-hours trading — Amazon stock jumped 4.1 percent in after-hours trading, despite notching the rare miss on revenue expectations. Profit expectation doubled analysts’ forecasts, which helped instill confidence, as did continued strength in the Amazon Web Services business and emerging strength of its advertising business.

Advertising 42

Advertising Sales Numbers Forecasting 42

PYMNTS

JULY 26, 2018

Venmo , the P2P service owned by PayPal , took in more than $14 billion in payments volume during the second quarter of 2018, a 78 percent year-over-year increase. Company officials also seemed pleased with their efforts to introduce more revenue-attracting services to Venmo — a positive sign for the spread of P2P payments as a whole. The Q2 earning season had already brought indications that consumers continue to warm to P2P , along with reasons for concern about the vulnerabilities of the paym

B2B 42

B2B Numbers Accounting Banking 42

PYMNTS

JULY 24, 2018

The movement of banks to join FinTech firms and stanch the disruption of their business models — decades and centuries old — has been well-documented. As banks embrace technology in ways that are both novel and, perhaps, permanent, observers have noted that the shift toward APIs is gaining momentum. A recent report that bowed via Citi underscores that thesis, as Global Market Manager of the bank’s Channel Services division, Rene Schuurman, wrote that 87 percent of banks have a clear API strateg

Banking 42

Banking Startups B2B Education 42

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

JULY 27, 2018

Over the next five years, some 40 billion connected devices are expected to be installed by consumers and businesses around the world. This rapid proliferation of Intelligence of Things (IoT) devices calls for robust infrastructure that can securely accommodate the upsurge of network traffic. In the July IoT Tracker , PYMNTS charts the efforts of network providers to enhance IoT-readiness and capabilities, and details emerging IoT use cases that are being implemented in the industrial, retail an

Securities 42

Securities Transportation Retail Planning 42

PYMNTS

JULY 27, 2018

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week stood by its move to stop a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, citing “unpersuasive” arguments as to how the ETF would be protected from any market manipulation. Reuters , citing a 92-page analysis by the SEC of the bitcoin ETF — which was created by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin brothers who started Gemini Trust , a cryptocurrency exchange — reported the SEC wasn’t convinced the ETF couldn’t be manipulated.

Construction 41

Construction Securities Marketing 41

PYMNTS

JULY 27, 2018

U.S. intelligence experts are warning of the risks of major cyberattacks on the technology operating throughout businesses’ supply chains, according to BBC reports Thursday (July 26), raising alarms for enterprises that increasingly rely on software to function and interact with their business partners. A report by the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), titled “The Foreign Economic Espionage Report,” warns that cyber attackers could infiltrate the sof

Securities 41

Securities Economics Technology Accounting 41

PYMNTS

JULY 26, 2018

eBay has launched a new image search feature for its mobile app that enables users to simply drag and drop images into the search bar. “When we introduced Image Search last year, we used computer vision to make it easier to find like items from the world around you in our global marketplace. Now, you can explore our marketplace further with just a swipe of your finger,” wrote Seema Jethani, manager of product management and search platforms at eBay.

eCommerce 41

eCommerce Retail 41

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