Sat.Jan 04, 2020 - Fri.Jan 10, 2020

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People’s Bank Of China Making Progress Toward Digital Coin

PYMNTS

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said it has completed the “top-level” design of its proposed digital currency, according to reports. The PBOC released the information in a recently released paper, saying that the “top-level design, standard formulation, functional research and development” of the digital yuan coin has been completed.

Banking 102
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Negative Interest Rates: The Logical Absurdity

CFA Institute

Upside-down rates do make sense. They reveal the high cost of staying solvent.

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Hello, and Welcome to Adam Kae & Associates!

Adam Kae

If you’re reading this, you may be seeking professional financial consulting or curious about how we can help your company move toward greater financial growth. Small business has quickly become the backbone of the United States with over 58.9 million people employed in a small business according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. To put that into perspective, that’s 47.5% of the private workforce!

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Global economic prospects

Future CFO

Global growth is set to rise by 2.5% this year, a small rise from an estimated 2.4% in 2019, as trade and investment gradually recover. Download The post Global economic prospects appeared first on FutureCFO.

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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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Amex Cleared To Operate In China

PYMNTS

The central bank in China said it has accepted an American Express application to start working in the country, according to a report by Reuters. The news was released in a social media post by the official People’s Bank of China (PBOC) account on Wednesday (Jan. 8). The post did not say when Amex would start operations in the country. In November of 2018, Amex got approval to clear card payments by the PBOC , making it the first company of its kind to get access to what will become the largest

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Big Brands Are Cutting Ties With Amazon

PYMNTS

IKEA has announced it is cutting ties with Amazon, a move that other brands like Nike, Birkenstock and PopSockets have also done recently. However, according to a report by CNBC , the move could backfire, as Amazon completely dominates the online shopping market, with 38 percent under its control. The only companies that come close are eBay and Walmart , which both only control single-digit percentages of the market.

Retail 74
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Who Will Shape The Future Of The Connected Economy?

PYMNTS

Ten years ago, the world of payments and commerce was in a very different place. ISOs sold terminals and card processing, mostly to brick-and-mortar merchants. Square was a newbie, largely written off as a wrought-with-fraud business model that would never survive and scale. The Collison brothers had founded Stripe, but it would be a year before it would be in-market.

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Overcoming The Pre-Accounting Hurdle Of Data

PYMNTS

Following anxieties that robots would replace their jobs, small business (SMB) accountants are now on a path to potentially become more strategic partners with their SMB clients. Many industry players are touting the ability to use analytics and automation technology to handle mundane, time-consuming tasks, freeing up resources for accountants to take on more advisory roles.

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First Of 40 Burger King Venezuela Locations Now Accepts Bitcoin

PYMNTS

Burger King is letting people pay their way in Venezuela with a new bitcoin partnership that enables cryptocurrency purchases, CoinTelegraph reported on Saturday (Jan. 4). Confirmed in a Dec. 30 tweet by @cryptobuyer, a Panama-based crypto platform, there is one Burger King in the Sambil area of Caracas that accepts coin payments from bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Binance Coin, Dash and the stablecoin Tether.

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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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Forty Percent Of US-Listed Companies Report Losses

PYMNTS

The share of listed companies in the U.S. that are losing money is nearing 40 percent, which is the highest level since the 90s outside of a recession, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. This time, there are no recessions and stock market indexes are at near or almost record highs. Some of the industries that are losing the most money include healthcare companies (at 42 percent of the loss-making companies) and tech stocks (17 percent).

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Visa: Road Tripping Into Connected Commerce’s Future Present

PYMNTS

It wasn’t long ago that the measure of a car or truck revolved around such things as the punch and pull of the engine, the smoothness of the transmission, perhaps even the thump of the stereo system. Those days are not exactly gone (those types of drivers still exist, and probably always will), but the standards have certainly changed, and will continue to do so.

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NRF Talks PIN-less EMV And POS Fraud

PYMNTS

The development of digital identity solutions shows no signs of slowing in the new decade, with the mobile biometrics market expected to add $28.45 billion per year in incremental growth between 2018 and 2023. Facial authentication and cloud-based subscription services are particularly popular, with applications ranging from unlocking personal smartphones to providing secure access to top-secret government facilities.

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Tesla Invites Hackers To Find Flaws For Prizes At Competition

PYMNTS

To challenge hackers to find flaws in its vehicles, Tesla , the electric automaker, is returning to the Pwn2Own hacking competition run by Trend Micro ’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), electrek reported. Some Model 3 vehicles and approximately $1 million are said to be for the taking. “Driving off with a brand-new Model 3 will be a harder challenge this year, which means the potential rewards will be much higher as well,” ZDI said in a press release.

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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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Mall Vacancy Rate Reaches 20-Year High Of 9.7 Pct.

PYMNTS

U.S. shopping malls have reached the pinnacle of struggle, with empty shops hitting a 20-year high, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday (Jan. 7). By the end of 2019, there were more vacant stores than at any time during the past two recessions, according to Reis Moody’s Analytics. People are shopping and spending is strong, but eCommerce is getting most of the sales rather than physical stores.

Sales 65
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FinTech Steps In As Invoice Payment Wait Times Inflate

PYMNTS

When it comes to late B2B payments, there’s good news and bad news. The good news stems from the U.K., where new research has found that fewer invoices were paid late to small businesses (SMBs) in 2019 than in 2018. Among the success stories of the nation’s efforts to combat late supplier payments is construction firm Kier Construction, which, according to The Construction Index , has been reinstated to the U.K.

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Israeli Tech Startups Closed $8.3B Investment Deals In 2019

PYMNTS

Israel’s technology sector had a banner year in 2019, raising $8.3 billion in 522 deals, a 30 percent growth over 2018, ZAG law firm announced Tuesday (Jan. 8). “2019 marked a record year, capping a decade of successive increases in capital invested in the Israeli high-tech industry,” said Shmulik Zysman, ZAG founding partner. “This growth is partly due to the growing foreign capital invested in the Israeli high-tech industry.”.

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How Tech Is Reinventing How Brides Say Yes To The Dress

PYMNTS

A typical episode of TLC’s “Say Yes To The Dress” can offer one the basic sketch of the drama that is buying a wedding dress. Though the details change somewhat episode to episode, the story pretty much always follows the same arc: The bridal party enters, the bride explains her vision, dresses are tried on, fights break out, bitter tears are shed, the right dress is found, the price tag is seen, more bitter tears are shed, the bride says yes to the dress and everyone drinks champagne by minute

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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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The Weird Commerce Of The Dark Web

PYMNTS

In the day-to-day life of the regular law-abiding internet user, the dark web is mostly a scary unknown. Insofar as the average consumer knows, that side of the web – which is accessible only via a TOR server – is the place where their personal information is sold whenever there is a data breach. A slightly more knowledgeable consumer might also know that the dark web is where one goes to buy illegal things with bitcoin.

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Procurement AI Tackles The Drawbacks Of Sluggish ePayments Adoption

PYMNTS

Enterprise digitization continues to ramp up the availability of data, and open up new opportunities for in-depth analysis of that information. However, it’s no longer enough for solution providers to simply analyze corporate data. Businesses demand actionable insights, and analytics technology must be tailored to users in a way that can guide corporate strategy.

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Google Assistant Previews Upcoming Voice AI Feature

PYMNTS

Google Assistant is aiming to help users in even more ways thanks to new features the company debuted at CES 2020 throughout this past week. Later this year, the popular virtual assistant, which is available on mobile and smart home devices in 90 countries and engaged by nearly half a billion users each month in 30 languages, will read web pages aloud in a more pleasant, realistic voice.

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Retail’s 2020 Digital-First Payments Roadmap

PYMNTS

Consumers have always influenced how payment methods evolve – stretching back centuries to the barter system, and extending, now, into the digital age. And as payments are done in bits and bytes, across all manner of use cases, consumers prize convenience and personalization. For merchants, it’s imperative to take stock of the existing (and evolving) payment preferences that can be markedly different across generations – but delivering a seamless experience is a way to cement loyalty and drive r

Sales 60
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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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PayPal Finalizes $4B Honey Acquisition

PYMNTS

PayPal has completed a $4 billion deal — its largest to date — to acquire the shopping rewards platform Honey Science Corporation , PayPal announced Monday (Jan. 6). With Honey, PayPal is striving to revamp the shopping journey for its customers while upping eCommerce sales and shopper engagement for its merchants. Founded in 2012, Honey has grown from an eCommerce price-tracking tool to an expanded suite of services that include a shopping assistant and rewards program.

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Deep Dive: How Open Source ID Solutions Can Accelerate Digital ID Implementation

PYMNTS

Digital identity solutions are becoming increasingly necessary as the world’s population grows. An estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide lack basic ID credentials, according to the World Bank, and that number rises even higher when it includes individuals with poor-quality IDs that cannot be easily verified. Those without access to verifiable credentials are often restricted from obtaining vital services like education and healthcare.

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What Iran Can – And Won’t – Do In A Cyberwar

PYMNTS

In the coming cyberwar with Iran, the U.S. may get hit hard. Planes may fall out of the sky, the financial system may be crippled, the energy grid may go dark — actually, it’s likely that none of this will come to pass. Amid the headlines speculating how, when and why Iran may respond to the killing last week of a top general, Qassem Soleimani, Director Samuel S.

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Cyberexperts Flag Danger Of Deepfakes At House Hearing

PYMNTS

Researchers have reported concerns about the timely importance of addressing deep fakes and other types of digital deception amid the backdrop of the upcoming presidential election. . The House’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce heard digital experts, as well as a representative from Facebook, testify in regards to the measures tech firms are using to fight against deepfakes, and what further actions should occur at the federal level, CNBC reported Wednesday (Jan. 8).

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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.