News

Faster Payments
Card Networks Become Hubs for FinTech Payments Modernization Efforts
July 12, 2023

FinTechs and venture capitalists recognize the pain points inherent in payments — and are investing the time and money needed to modernize infrastructure around existing rails and create new paths for money movement and acceptance of new payment methods. A trio of payments experts told...

Retail
UPP Takes an AI-Powered Approach to Optimizing Google Shopping for Merchants 
July 12, 2023

Today’s digital landscape requires retailers to bring their A-game to grabbing customers’ attention and loyalty. With the rise of eCommerce and online shopping, optimizing the customer experience has become paramount for driving revenue and staying ahead in the market. One powerful tool that has emerged...

CFPB
132 Members of Congress Say CFPB Funding Structure Unconstitutional
July 11, 2023

A group of 132 members of Congress favor challenging the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The group filed an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court in support of upholding a lower court’s decision that the CFPB’s funding structure is unconstitutional, and that the...

Retail
Amazon Uses Priceline Partnership to Grab Travel Spend on Prime Day
July 11, 2023

Amazon Prime Day is now underway, and the eCommerce giant is determined to engage Prime members and stimulate spending. With lofty aspirations, Amazon aims to exceed its 2022 Prime Day of selling over 300 million items worldwide.  Although the strategy of enticing customers during an...

Investments
Sapphire Ventures Announces $1 Billion Investment in AI-Powered Enterprise Technology
July 11, 2023

Sapphire Ventures has committed an investment of more than $1 billion to cultivate the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered enterprise technology. This investment marks a deepening of Sapphire’s dedication to AI technology and building on the success of their past investments in and scaling of...

Security & Fraud
SEC Charges Merrill Lynch and BACNAH for Failing to File Suspicious Activity Reports
July 11, 2023

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced charges against investment firm Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and its parent company BAC North America Holding Co. The charges, stemming from 2009 to 2019, are due to hundreds of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) not being filed, the SEC said...

Security & Fraud
FTC Warns About Scammers Impersonating Agency Staff
July 11, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers to be wary of scammers pretending to be staff members. The FTC issued a press release and blog post on Tuesday (July 11) to alert consumers. The blog post said that scammers have been using the names of real FTC employees to gain...

B2B Payments
American Express Global Business Travel Simplifies Structure to Reduce Compliance Costs
July 11, 2023

American Express Global Business Travel has begun eliminating its umbrella partnership-C corporate (UP-C) structure. With the series of transactions it has undertaken to do so, all of the company’s stockholders now hold the same class of common stock: Class A common stock, the B2B travel platform...

Artificial Intelligence
Salesforce Debuts AI Products and Raises List Prices
July 11, 2023

After seven years of no increase in list prices, Salesforce will be increasing the average list price globally by 9% in August. Salesforce is raising the cost of Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Industry and Tableau, the company said in a Tuesday (July 11) press release. “Salesforce’s last...