Sat.Jan 19, 2019 - Fri.Jan 25, 2019

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Fortnite’s In-Game Currency Used In Money Laundering Schemes

PYMNTS

A new report has revealed that Fortnite’s in-game currency is being used to launder money from stolen credit cards. According to a report by The Independent and cybersecurity firm Sixgill , a hacker will access someone else’s credit card information, and then use it to create a Fortnite account and buy V-bucks, which is the game’s currency. Once the account fills up with V-bucks, it is then sold through a legitimate vendor like eBay, or on the dark web, for lower rates that the $10 for 1,000 gam

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Ashby Monk on Alternative Data’s Potential

CFA Institute

"Alternative data is far more important to our community than artificial intelligence,” Ashby Monk, PhD, says.

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Mastercard Fined $648.3 Million By EU Over Interchange Fees

PYMNTS

Mastercard was slapped with a $648.3 million fine by the European Union, which alleged that the payments company raised the costs of card payments artificially. According to a report in Reuters , citing the European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust regulator, the move is part of an effort on the part of European regulators to stamp out fees that U.S. credit card companies charge.

Retail 82
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How AR/VR Tech Is Reshaping Retail

PYMNTS

Before consumers started to trade brick-and-mortar shopping experiences for eCommerce websites, retailers could bring customers through their doors with window displays. Now, with this shift, retailers are creating engaging experiences that digitally-connected consumers can tap into online with the help of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies.

Retail 81
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Automation, Evolved: Your New Playbook For Smarter Knowledge Work

Speaker: Frank Taliano

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PSD2 Creates Turbulence For Travel Operators

PYMNTS

With PSD2 in full swing in the European Union (EU), any merchant dealing with the payment data of EU citizens must upgrade their payment protocols to stay compliant. That said, the fact that PSD2 is effectively changing how merchants transact doesn’t mean the merchants in question understand what those changes mean. In the January PSD2 Tracker , PYMNTS examines how money movement and data flow are getting an upgrade with PSD2, as well as how the upcoming SCA regulation is bound to affect user au

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PayPal, Mastercard Champion Bank-FinTech Alliances

PYMNTS

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, executives of PayPal and Mastercard touted partnerships between financial technology companies and banks as a positive way to gain customers’ trust and innovate new ways for customers to interact with their finances. On Tuesday (Jan. 22), the executives talked about how financial companies had nothing to fear from these types of partnerships, and PayPal Chief Operating Officer Bill Ready said the idea that banking institutions have something to

Banking 77
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The Big Tech Canary In The Faster Payments Coal Mine

PYMNTS

There’s a canary in the faster payments coalmine. It flew in on Dec. 14, the Friday before the week before Christmas, so you might not have noticed. That was the day that an advocacy group, Financial Innovation Now (FIN), submitted a public comment letter to the Fed in response to its proposal to create and operate a real-time payments system in the U.S.

Banking 77
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Corporate Finance’s Interest In AI Doesn’t Lead To Adoption: Oracle

PYMNTS

Last year was the year of artificial intelligence (AI), declared Brighterion CEO Dr. Akli Adjaoute for PYMNTS’ 2018 year-end eBook. The technology is proliferating financial markets, particularly for some of the world’s largest financial institutions in need of enhanced compliance solutions. Corporate treasurers are exploring AI for their own cash management and forecasting needs, while AI is also being explored among both traditional and alternative finance players for risk mitigat

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VCs Looking For FinTech Firms To Solve The Pain Of Unpaid Invoices

PYMNTS

This week, Barclays and Santander InnoVentures demonstrated traditional banks’ interest in alternative finance when they led a nearly $34 million equity fundraise for invoice financing platform MarketInvoice. However, the company wasn’t the only one landing support for its invoice finance operations: India’s M1Xchange and U.S.-based Apruve landed funding for their solutions, signaling continued interest by venture capitalists (VCs) in not only alternative finance, but in FinTe

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Data Talks, CFOs Listen: Why Analytics Is The Key To Better Spend Management

Speaker: Claire Grosjean

Finance teams are drowning in data—but is it actually helping them spend smarter? Without the right approach, excess spending, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities continue to drain profitability. While analytics offers powerful insights, financial intelligence requires more than just numbers—it takes the right blend of automation, strategy, and human expertise.

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Compliance Execs Forge Closer Ties With Corporate Buyers

PYMNTS

With third-party due diligence and supply chain security as increasingly critical components of organizations’ procurement operations, compliance executives are finding important positions in their firms’ purchasing processes. Understanding exposure to risk is essential for companies today, and Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) research suggests awareness is strong, with U.S. and U.K. procurement professionals identifying supplier due diligence, internal compliance training, social gov

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How FinTech Startups Bring Keyword Searches To Financial Notes

PYMNTS

FinTech startups are introducing new ways for users to sift through information that was once hard to find: Intrinio , for instance, is now letting users search through notes and disclosures included on the SEC filings of U.S. public companies with keywords. Through the feature, users could look for “any indicators for sentiment analysis” to determine if a company is heading in “a good direction or a bad direction or any interesting events” Intrinio Founder and CEO Rachel Carpenter told PYMNTS i

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Twitter Data Breach Prompts GDPR Investigation

PYMNTS

The Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) is Twitter’s lead regulator in the European Union. On Friday (Jan. 25), the DPC said it was again looking into the social media giant because of another breach notification it received from the company, according to a report from Reuters. “The DPC has this week opened a new statutory inquiry into the latest data breach it received from Twitter on 8 January, 2019,” the Commission said on its website.

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Pharma Tackles The Puzzle Of Data And B2B Payments

PYMNTS

If one wants to understand the complexities of the pharmaceutical supply chain, just follow the money. Contract negotiations between drug manufacturers, wholesalers, hospitals, pharmacies and their group purchasing organizations (GPOs) are ever-changing, meaning B2B payments are often incorrect, and chargebacks and disputes are common. Let’s say a manufacturer sells a drug for $100 to a wholesaler at wholesale acquisition cost (WAC).

B2B 76
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What Your Financial Statements Are Telling You—And How to Listen!

Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker

Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.

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GoFundMe Crowdfunds For Furloughed Government Workers

PYMNTS

It’s been 10 full days since government workers missed their paychecks due to the prolonged government shutdown, and one of the most recognizable crowdfunding companies is stepping in to help. GoFundMe has launched a fundraising campaign targeted specifically to furloughed government workers, according to reports , and it’s raised around $90,000 from more than 1,000 people in just two days.

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Google Fined $57M By French Regulator In Largest GDPR Action

PYMNTS

Alphabet Inc.’s Google was hit with a $57 million fine Monday (Jan. 21) by a French regulator, in what the Wall Street Journal reported is the largest penalty under the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy law. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal , France’s National Data Protection Commission fined Google, saying it didn’t do enough to get the consent of users when gathering data used for targeted advertising.

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JPMorgan To Issue Virtual Cards In Coupa Pay

PYMNTS

Coupa has announced another bank partner to join its recently launched suite of B2B payments solutions known as Coupa Pay. Coupa Software and JPMorgan announced on Tuesday (Jan. 22) that they are now working together to integrate JPMorgan’s Single-Use Accounts (SUA) virtual cards into the Coupa Virtual Cards for Purchase Orders offering, part of the Coupa Pay suite.

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Report: The 16 Things That Will Take Subscription Commerce To The Next Level

PYMNTS

At their core, subscription services are simple and straightforward. A consumer pays a recurring fee and, in return, receives access to a selection of goods and services. Subscription merchants have duplicated this simple formula within every industry imaginable, but few today offer subscription services that resonate with what consumers want. So, what differentiates the best from the rest?

B2C 75
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Forecasting Failures Are Costly: Heres How To Fix Them

Speaker: Dave Sackett

Traditional budgeting and forecasting methods can no longer keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Static budgets, rigid annual forecasts, and outdated financial models limit an organization’s ability to adapt to market shifts and economic uncertainty. To stay ahead, finance leaders must leverage a future-forward approach—one that leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and continuous planning to drive smarter financial decisions.

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Do Grocery Stores Need Bitcoin ATMs?

PYMNTS

There are few familiar places in the regular life of a consumer other than the grocery store , and that familiarity can breed a type of trust, a sense that nothing too weird or threatening will happen there. That doesn’t mean they can’t be about innovation. Supermarkets are home to some of retail’s major and ongoing technological advances — and 2018 stands as a big year for grocery innovation.

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How Inefficient B2B Payments Systems Hobble Business Growth

PYMNTS

Business confidence remains strong in the U.S., riding on the optimism of a strengthening economy that brings new opportunity for revenue growth. This is particularly true for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), most of which are anticipating revenue growth in the year ahead, according to JPMorgan Chase research. The firm’s Business Leaders Outlook report, published earlier this month, found that the majority of SMBs expect revenue, sales and profit increases in 2019, with executiv

B2B 75
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Banks Fight Back Against ‘Fake Grandchild’ Scammers Who Target Seniors

PYMNTS

Get ready for even more fake grandchildren when it comes to payments fraud. That’s one of the sad facts of life as more consumers hit senior citizen status, and criminals gain more expertise in conning people into giving over their money. That said, financial services professionals, backed by regulatory changes, are reportedly becoming better at recognizing when their senior citizen customers are being conned out of money in their bank accounts — an awareness that seems likely to increase in the

Banking 74
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Walmart Tests New Payments Approach To Up Online Conversions

PYMNTS

Walmart is testing out a new solution designed to automatically address soft declines on its eCommerce site. Walmart Labs, the technology arm of Walmart, discovered that most declined purchases on the retail giant’s site were soft declines, which are credit card rejections due to generic issuer errors such as server timeout or issuer unavailability.

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Are Robots Replacing You? Keeping Humans in the Loop in Automated Environments

Speaker: Erroll Amacker

As businesses increasingly adopt automation, finance leaders must navigate the delicate balance between technology and human expertise. This webinar explores the critical role of human oversight in accounts payable (AP) automation and how a people-centric approach can drive better financial performance. Join us for an insightful discussion on how integrating human expertise into automated workflows enhances decision-making, reduces fraud risks, strengthens vendor relationships, and accelerates R

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Bitcoin Daily: Coinbase Eyes Asia Expansion; R3, ING Pair On Blockchain Tech

PYMNTS

Bitcoin fell to a five-week low during this past holiday weekend, reaching $3,442.50, its lowest level since Dec. 17. By Tuesday (Jan. 22), the crypto was up 0.7 percent to hit $3,622.41 on the Kraken exchange, according to MarketWatch. “Bitcoin keeps bouncing along in the upper $3K range, but it was unable to extend last week’s breakout above this level,” wrote Market Analyst Jani Ziedins.

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What Do Antilock Brakes And Instant Payments Have In Common?

PYMNTS

“Can we all just agree that real-time access to money isn’t going to be an option anymore?” said Ingo Money CEO Drew Edwards. That’s how Friday’s conversation between Edwards and Karen Webster started. Yet, according to the latest Disbursements Tracker , a collaborative effort between Ingo Money and PYMNTS, hurdles remain. The Tracker found that some 74 percent of business executives cited a lack of interoperability as a major inhibitor to their real-time payments adoption, along with the opera

Banking 74
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Alipay Rides The Payments Licensing Trend In Europe

PYMNTS

Alipay’s latest expansion — this time, to Luxembourg — shows not only the increasing reach of the China-based mobile payments ecosystem, but also stands as the latest example of companies in payments and FinTech gaining licenses to operate in Europe. There, PSD2 was designed to encourage FinTech and payments innovation. Alipay , which is part of the Alibaba group and has more than 700 million users , reportedly received a license from Luxembourg for a new entity called Alipay (Europe) Limited S.

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Crowe Launches Cash Management Solution For Hospitals

PYMNTS

Accounting, consultancy and technology firm Crowe is rolling out a new solution designed for hospitals to automate daily bank reconciliation processes and manage cash flow, the company said in a recent announcement. Hospitals can often struggle to manually reconcile cash flow coming from multiple sources. Crowe is addressing this friction with the rollout of its Crowe Automated Reconciliation for Healthcare tool, providing hospitals a three-way match solution between their general ledgers, patie

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Book of Secrets on the Month-End Close

Based off SkyStem's popular e-Book, the book of secrets to the month-end close will be revealed in this one-hour webinar. Learn leading practices when it comes to building a strong and sustainable month-end close that has room to grow and evolve. Learn about the power of precise estimates, why reconciliations are critical to closing the books, how and when to automate, and how the chart of accounts play into your close process.