News

Regulation
Senate Hearing Spotlights Rifts, Risks on Push Payment Fraud
September 23, 2022

On Capitol Hill, by now the cast of characters — and the flash points — are familiar. The CEOs of the nation’s largest banks have, in a continuing series of appearances before House and Senate Committees, discussed their business models and in some cases have...

Retail
From Football to Foodies, Amazon and Walmart Try out New Customer Connections
September 23, 2022

In football circles it’s called a “Hail Mary” — a last-second pass heaved into the endzone in hopes of winning the game with no time left on the clock. While Amazon has sprinted onto the field, so to speak, with its newly launched Thursday Night...

Retail
French Law Aims to Give Small Bookshops an Edge Against Amazon
September 23, 2022

France will impose a minimum 3-euro (about $3) delivery fee for online book sales of less than 35 euros (about $34) in a bid to give small bookstores competing against eCommerce goliaths a fighting chance. In a statement issued Friday (Sept. 23), French cultural and...

Retail
UK Retailers Struggle to Stem Slumping Sales, While Canada Sees Slight Increase
September 23, 2022

Retailers in the U.K. reported a drop in sales for September and expect that trend to continue next month as businesses prepare for the holiday shopping season. A report Friday (Sept. 23) by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) showed a strong decline in retail...

Retail
Costco Earnings Reflect New Competition as Consumers, Rival Retailers Trade Down
September 23, 2022

Since opening its first warehouse store in Seattle 40 years ago, Costco has never wavered from its mission “to continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices.” But while that mantra and ethos has served the warehouse giant well...

Security & Fraud
Watchdog: Crooks Likely Jacked $45B From Pandemic Unemployment 
September 23, 2022

Crooks likely used the Social Security numbers of dead people and prisoners plus filed claims in multiple states to steal more than $45 billion from the pandemic unemployment program, three times more than previous estimates.  The expanded U.S. unemployment insurance program started in March 2020...

Investments
German VC Firm Visionaries Club Raises €400M to Improve Supply Chains, B2B Finance
September 22, 2022

Berlin-based VC firm Visionaries Club has raised a new €400 million fund to invest in B2B technology, a press release said. It will be divided into three funds: “a €150m seed fund; a €200m early growth fund to invest in startups post-Series B; and a...

Cross-border Payments
Finastra, Visa Team on Cross-Border Payment Services
September 22, 2022

British financial software company Finastra has announced a collaboration with Visa to give businesses better access to cross-border services, a press release said Thursday (Sept. 23). Finastra’s Payments Hub will implement Visa Direct, which gives access to billions of accounts through push to account offerings....

B2B Payments
Markaaz, Nav Partner to Offer SMBs Curated Financing Options
September 22, 2022

Markaaz and Nav Technologies have partnered to enable members of Markaaz’s small business networking community to access Nav’s curated financing options.  With the partnership, Markaaz members can go to the Markaaz Dashboard to find a range of embedded financing solutions that Nav’s artificial intelligence (AI)...