Sat.Jul 13, 2019 - Fri.Jul 19, 2019

article thumbnail

Monopoly Goes Cashless And Board Games Gain Popularity

PYMNTS

In this age of live multi-player online gaming, and virtual reality, and all things digital, it can be easy to think of board games as an artifact of the analog world. No doubt many households have a collection of board games in the closet or basement, but so many of them do nothing so much as collect dust, perhaps pulled out during the holidays after the presents are opened and the kids are getting fidgety.

article thumbnail

Top-Performing Investment Teams: 10 Ingredients to Their Secret Sauce

CFA Institute

What do top investment teams have in common? What makes some succeed while others fall short?

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Why Transforming Your FP&A Matters

Jedox Finance

“Transformation!” is the clear message from Chief Financial Officers. To do that we must address the mindset of the entire FP&A team. Operating within your organization’s framework, as we discussed in the previous posts in this blog series , will frame how your FP&A team carries out this mandate. We asked several Financial Planning and Analysis professionals to share their perspectives on the mindset needed for success now and in the future.

article thumbnail

How Bitbuy Is Keeping Crime Out Of Crypto

PYMNTS

More than $1.2 billion is estimated to have been lost to cryptocurrency scams, thefts and fraud in the first quarter of 2019, and cybercriminals and scammers are not the only ones putting digital asset users at risk. Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX ’s former CEO, Gerald Cotten, allegedly embezzled approximately $195 million of clients’ money, for example, and his recent death left the company without the passwords required to access most of its customers’ holdings.

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Visa Acquires Germany-Based Payworks

PYMNTS

Visa said early Wednesday (July 17) that it has acquired Payworks , a payment gateway based in Germany focused on the point of sale (POS). The company said in a release that Payworks will be integrated into CyberSource ’s portfolio of services offered to clients. In its release, the company said that Payworks’ cloud-based solution for in-store payments processing will be brought together with the CyberSource digital payment management platform, which will create, in Visa’s words, “a fully integ

Sales 77

More Trending

article thumbnail

Samsung Pay Offers Payments, Credit To Indian Marketplaces

PYMNTS

Samsung has reached an agreement with an online marketplace for financial products in India that will allow consumers to apply for credit cards and loans through the Samsung Pay app. In a deal Samsung signed with Paisabazaar.com, India’s largest online marketplace for financial products, predictive algorithms will connect customers with the lenders most likely to say yes, FinExtra reported.

article thumbnail

SWIFT gpi Service For Multi-Banked Corporates Goes Live

PYMNTS

More than 50 of the world’s largest companies have already started using a new service that enhances payment flows, allowing a single view of transactions across multi-banked corporates. SWIFT announced July 17 that its global payments innovation (gpi) service now offers a full go-live function, giving corporates the power to initiate and track payments across multiple banks, SWIFT said in a press release.

Banking 75
article thumbnail

How PSD2 Is Changing ING Bank’s API Strategy

PYMNTS

Banks and merchants are racing to meet the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) deadline as September 2019 approaches. Banks are innovating their application programming interface (API) platforms to allow for more third parties, while online merchants are prepping for a potential loss in revenue due to the security frictions that SCA might bring. Both are looking to maintain quick, efficient service to which end customers have become accustomed when it comes to online purchases and transactions

Retail 75
article thumbnail

US Treasury Secretary Sees Libra As National Security Threat

PYMNTS

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin believes that Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency could pose as a national security threat. In a press conference on Monday (July 15), Mnuchin warned that Libra “could be misused by money launderers and terrorist financiers” and that it was a “national security issue.”. “Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have been exploited to support billions of dollars of illicit activity like cyber crime, tax evasion, extortion, ransomware, illicit drugs and human traffick

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Is China The Roadmap — Or Red Flag — For Digital ID Verification?

PYMNTS

Establishing a trust factor is vital to cross-border economics and digital identity , but the roadmap is far from clear. There are billions of individuals online, trillions of dollars in commerce exchanged digitally, and a myriad of approaches to online verification. In terms of authentication, should there be government mandates, private sector ingenuity, or a combination of both?

article thumbnail

In The Dark About GDPR’s SCA?

PYMNTS

Strong customer authentication (SCA) looms on the horizon for businesses based in Europe. The latest PSD2 Tracker shows that a majority of European citizens are aware of GDPR – and the reverse seems true here in the States. Yet online commerce is indeed about to usher in a sea change in how companies deal with security and privacy , as similar laws may span the globe in the coming months.

article thumbnail

Uber Releases Open-Source Conversational AI Platform Called Plato

PYMNTS

Uber AI, the ride-hailing company’s artificial intelligence division, has released an open-source AI platform called the Plato Research Dialogue System, according to a report by Venturebeat. . The platform is made to build, train and deploy conversational AI agents for people to gather data from both prototypes and demonstration systems. . “Intelligent conversational agents have evolved significantly over the past few decades, from keyword-spotting interactive voice response (IVR) systems to the

article thumbnail

Taking The Cash Out Of Cashing Out Tips

PYMNTS

You may have noticed in recent years that the cash you have in your wallet, pocket or purse tends to last longer than it used to. Drew Edwards, CEO at Ingo Money , sure has — a situation he says was brought about by the increasing use of Uber instead of taxis, digital payment options offered by valets and other factors. But there is one place where cash still has a big role: Tipping.

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Curve Captures $55M In New Funding

PYMNTS

Referred to as an “over-the-top” digital banking platform, London-based Curve has cleared $55 million in its latest funding round. Curve’s claim to fame in financial services is allowing customers to consolidate their many cards into a single Curve card and app. The theory is that centralization will allow consumers better control over their spending.

article thumbnail

Why ING Is Taking A Platform Approach To PSD2 And Open Banking

PYMNTS

The second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is changing how banks share data and interact with third-party providers and FinTechs, which are now relying on open banking information and application programming interface (API) access to build out new products. The regulation is also altering banks’ end customer interactions as new players make their way to the financial stage.

Banking 65
article thumbnail

WeSwap P2P Currency Exchange Seeks $2.89M In Crowdfunding

PYMNTS

After hitting the 500,000 user mark, currency exchange service WeSwap has rolled out a Seedrs crowdfunding round. The company is seeking a £2.3 million ($2.89 million) raise, according to reports. The raise is the company’s third on Seedrs and had previously brought in funds from 3,868 investors of more than £3.5 million ($4.4 million). It will support an IW Capital-led Series B investment round.

article thumbnail

Many Retailers Aren’t Prepared for PSD2 – But Are Consumers?

PYMNTS

The second Payment Services Directive ( PSD2 ) groundwork laid out in 2016 is about to come to fruition in a few months – Sept. 14, 2019, to be exact. The deadline is looming for merchants and payments providers to comply with new requirements for authenticating online payments in Europe. Firms must soon put more stringent fraud decisioning processes in place, and strong customer authentication (SCA) protocols must be built into checkout flows for online transactions that begin in Europe.

Retail 65
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

How Technology Can Unlock Trust In Cross-Border Transactions

PYMNTS

Trust is important for all of payment, commerce and financial services – it is more or less the glue that holds transactions together. Without foundations of trust, no transaction can get off the runway. And when it comes to cross-border transactions, that importance increases exponentially, simply by the nature of that activity. The parties don’t know each other, and are often separated by language and time zone barriers that can make communication a tremendous challenge.

article thumbnail

For Mastercard/OpenText and the Automotive Industry: Have Trust, Will Trade

PYMNTS

To keep the wheels of commerce — or the commerce of wheels — turning, trust is key, among lengthy supply chains, and vendors large and small. In the automotive industry, hiccups amid the supply chain — for deliveries or for payments, can have outsized ripple effects. Mastercard said late last week that it has partnered with OpenTex t, focused on enterprise operations management in a bid to streamline supply chain and finance activity.

article thumbnail

In Banking Innovation, Eyeing The Needs Of The ‘Digital Native’

PYMNTS

TS Eliot wrote: “Between the idea/And the reality/Between the motion/And the act/Falls the shadow.”. The same observation might apply to financial services. Depending on where you look, the chasm yawns wide when it comes to innovating with new technologies or features. In a PYMNTS interview with Karen Webster, Joe DeRosa, EVP of Global Sales at i2c , discussed the findings of the July 2019 Innovation Readiness Playbook , subtitled “Leveling the Playing Field for Different-Sized FIs.

Banking 62
article thumbnail

SumUp Snags $371M Loan Backed By Bain, Goldman

PYMNTS

Six-year-old digital payments startup SumUp has managed to secure a 330 million-euro ($371 million) loan, backed by Bain Capital Credit and Goldman Sachs Private Capital. The new funds will reportedly go toward financing expansion, according to Bloomberg. The firm is reportedly looking to grow its customer base in the 31 markets where it is already doing business.

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

SoftBank Ventures Asia Notches $270M To Fund Startups

PYMNTS

The Seoul venture capital division of Japanese multinational holding company SoftBank has raised $270 million, or 317 billion won. The new fund of SoftBank Ventures Asia will invest globally in early-stage startups, with Asia being the cornerstone, Reuters reported Friday (July 19). Investors include South Korea’s National Pension Service. SoftBank Ventures Asia indicated the new fund will close in the next six months.

article thumbnail

Prime Day Expected To Lift US eCommerce Spend Past $2B

PYMNTS

Amazon’s impact from Prime Day this year will again lift the U.S. eCommerce market, according to a report by TechCrunch. . Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) predicts that top retailers who have more than $1 billion in online sales will have a revenue lift of 79 percent, which is higher than the 60 percent from a year prior. . The research also predicts that Prime Day is going to be the third time eCommerce spending goes over $2 billion on a day that’s not a holiday; the other two days were Labor Day

article thumbnail

Retail Pulse: Toys R Us Returns With Small Retail Stores

PYMNTS

Iconic brick-and-mortar retailers are sometimes reinvented, and return to the world of retail with smaller-format concepts. The parent of the Toys R Us brand, Tru Kids , plans to bring stores under the legendary name to the United States for the 2019 holiday season. Tru Kids has entered into a joint venture with the software-powered experiential retailer b8ta to offer a new store experience with curated toys in “highly immersive, smaller-format spaces.”.

Retail 60
article thumbnail

After B2B Payments Embrace The Cloud: What’s Next?

PYMNTS

When consumers use mobile apps like Uber or iTunes, the expectation that payments occur in a seamless, integrated way represents a broader paradigm shift in the payments world — one that is seeping into the corporate community as well. According to Mphasis Senior Vice President and Head of Global Payments Andres Ricaurte, the corporate equivalent to the mobile device’s effect on payments expectations can be seen in businesses’ adoption of the cloud and Software-as-a-Service.

B2B 60
article thumbnail

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.