News

B2B Payments
American Express Introduces Business Card for Nigerian Users
May 09, 2024

American Express is rolling out a business credit card in Nigeria, its first such product in the country. The card offers business owners a spending limit of $10,000 and a repayment period of up to 45 days for international transactions, and comes as a result of...

International
Chinese Users Report WhatsApp Working Despite Country’s Ban
May 09, 2024

WhatsApp is reportedly working in China despite a years-long ban on this and other foreign messaging and social media platforms. Users of the Meta-owned messaging platform in the country said they have been able to send and receive messages without using the workarounds they normally have to employ, although it is...

Retail
Manhattan District Attorney Announces Organized Retail Theft-Related Indictments
May 09, 2024

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicted a business and two individuals as part of an effort to fight organized retail theft. District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the indictment of Bibi Rehana Khan, 54, Aaron Khan, 40, and Rehana’s Cosmetics, alleging that they possessed more than $1 million in stolen...

Banking
Fed Governor Lisa Cook Highlights Private Credit as Emerging Issue
May 08, 2024

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook highlighted commercial real estate, private credit and cyber risks as potential issues. Speaking Wednesday (May 8) at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Cook provided a current assessment of financial stability and highlighted these issues as potential vulnerabilities. The commercial real estate (CRE) sector continues...

Regulation
UK’s FCA Defends Proposal to Disclose Companies Under Investigation
May 08, 2024

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the United Kingdom’s financial watchdog, has reportedly faced a backlash from the industry regarding its proposal to publicly disclose companies under investigation.  Despite criticism from industry bodies and lawmakers, the FCA told the Treasury Committee Wednesday (May 8) that it remains...

Artificial Intelligence
Experts Say OpenAI and Amazon Are Keepin’ It Real for AI
May 08, 2024

In a world increasingly flooded with artificial intelligence-generated content, tech behemoths are now locked in a high-stakes battle to develop cutting-edge tools that distinguish between what’s real and what’s not. From OpenAI’s launch of a new system to identify images created by its own DALL-E 3 text-to-image generator to Amazon’s deployment...

B2B Payments
Trimble Acquires Flashtract to Expand Connected Construction Technology Ecosystem
May 08, 2024

Trimble has acquired Flashtract to add construction payment, compliance and lien waiver capabilities to its connected construction technology ecosystem. Flashtract’s technology streamlines the flow of payment and compliance information between construction general contractors and subcontractors, Trimble said in a Wednesday (May 8) press release. Now branded as Trimble Pay, the technology...

Payment Methods
Retail Shoppers Pay by Debit Card in Stores but by Credit Online
May 08, 2024

When shopping in stores, retail customers prefer to pay with debit, but eCommerce is a different story. By the Numbers According to an October survey of more than 2,100 U.S. consumers, 44% of respondents had paid for their most recent retail purchase in stores via debit...

Banking
US Financial Giants Including Visa and JPMorgan Test Shared Ledger Tech
May 08, 2024

The U.S. financial system is exploring the use of shared ledger technology for multi-asset transactions. The project will involve a number of high-profile financial institutions (FIs) — including Visa, Mastercard, Citi and JPMorgan — managed by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). “In the current financial system,...