PYMNTS

JANUARY 21, 2019

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

Currencies 84

Currencies Securities Accounting 84

CFA Institute

JANUARY 25, 2019

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

Financial Analysis 52

Financial Analysis Investments 52

PYMNTS

JANUARY 22, 2019

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

Retail Banking 82

PYMNTS

JANUARY 24, 2019

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

Retail eCommerce Technology Forecasting 81

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

JANUARY 25, 2019

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

Securities 78

Securities Retail Marketing Compliance 78

PYMNTS

JANUARY 22, 2019

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

Banking Manufacturing Startups Economics 77

PYMNTS

JANUARY 21, 2019

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

Banking Financial Systems Leverage Accounting 77

PYMNTS

JANUARY 22, 2019

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

Corporate Finance 77

Corporate Finance Finance Data Analysis Accounting 77

PYMNTS

JANUARY 24, 2019

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

Compliance 76

Compliance Risk Management Technology Manufacturing 76

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

JANUARY 23, 2019

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

Startups 76

Startups Economics Investments 76

PYMNTS

JANUARY 25, 2019

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.

Auditing 76

Auditing Compliance Securities Planning 76

PYMNTS

JANUARY 23, 2019

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

B2B Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Data Analysis 76

PYMNTS

JANUARY 21, 2019

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.

Nonprofit 76

Nonprofit Banking Finance 76

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

JANUARY 21, 2019

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.

Advertising 76

Advertising 76

PYMNTS

JANUARY 23, 2019

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.

Reconciliations 75

Reconciliations B2B Invoicing Finance 75

PYMNTS

JANUARY 23, 2019

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

B2C B2B Planning 75

PYMNTS

JANUARY 25, 2019

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.

Currencies 75

Currencies Accounting Technology Marketing 75

Advertisement

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

JANUARY 21, 2019

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

B2B Accounts Payable Data Analysis Technology 75

PYMNTS

JANUARY 25, 2019

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

Banking Treasury Accounting Retail 74

PYMNTS

JANUARY 24, 2019

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.

eCommerce 74

eCommerce Retail Technology 74

PYMNTS

JANUARY 23, 2019

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.

Currencies 74

Currencies Leverage Technology Banking 74

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

JANUARY 21, 2019

“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

Advertising 74

Advertising Banking Retail Marketing 74

PYMNTS

JANUARY 21, 2019

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.

Valuation 74

Valuation Startups Banking Leverage 74

PYMNTS

JANUARY 22, 2019

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the two philanthropic arms of the organizations, announced a partnership on Tuesday (Jan. 22) called Data Science for Social Impact, according to a press release. The aim of the new organization is to “accelerate the use of data science by empowering nonprofit, civic and government organizations with the tools, expertise and other capabilities they need to help solve the world’s most pressing challenges.”.

Nonprofit 73

Nonprofit Transportation Planning Investments 73

PYMNTS

JANUARY 25, 2019

There’s an old saying in battle that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. In eCommerce, all sorts of alliances emerge, with Amazon squarely in sight. And according to recent news on the eCommerce front, Google has lost a friend, seemingly, in at least part of its ongoing eCommerce battle against Amazon. Bloomberg reports that Walmart has “quietly” left one of Google’s key efforts against Amazon, having removed products from the latter’s Shopping Actions website, and also left Google Express,

eCommerce 72

eCommerce Retail Planning 72

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