Payments Intelligence

Small Businesses Signal It’s Time to Move Beyond Checks, PYMNTS–Mastercard Report Finds

Small Businesses Signal It’s Time to Move Beyond Checks, PYMNTS–Mastercard Report Finds
Small Businesses Signal It’s Time to Move Beyond Checks, PYMNTS–Mastercard Report Finds
February 25, 2026  |  SMBs

Small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are approaching a practical turning point in how they pay. Cash and checks still play an outsized role in day-to-day...

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Planned Purchases Rise as Financial Stress Eases, Study Finds
Planned Purchases Rise as Financial Stress Eases, Study Finds
February 23, 2026  |  Consumer Finance

Many Americans are turning themselves down for credit before a lender ever does. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and...

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Everyone Has a Side Hustle Now. Not Everyone Has the Same Reason.
Everyone Has a Side Hustle Now. Not Everyone Has the Same Reason.
February 20, 2026  |  Consumer Insights

Job security may be improving across the U.S. workforce, but financial confidence tells a more divided story. “Wage to Wallet™ Index: Side Work Patterns in...

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What Happens When Embedded Finance Grows Up?
What Happens When Embedded Finance Grows Up?
February 19, 2026  |  Payments Innovation

For more than two decades, financial technology companies have been racing to expand a financing model invented by General Motors over a century ago. The...

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US and Canadian Middle-Market Firms Gain Working Capital Edge With AI Cash Forecasting
US and Canadian Middle-Market Firms Gain Working Capital Edge With AI Cash Forecasting
February 19, 2026  |  Accounts Receivable

Cash is king when uncertainty reigns. But for many firms, profit is not disappearing due to macroeconomic forces alone. In many cases, it is being...

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Card Issuance Expands as Earnings Season Highlights Platform Economics
Card Issuance Expands as Earnings Season Highlights Platform Economics
February 17, 2026  |  Payments Innovation

Earnings season rarely yields a single organizing narrative, yet the most recent cycle has revealed a narrative tied to cards: Issuance is increasingly positioned as...

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More Than Half of Banks Plan to Outsource Fraud Detection 
More Than Half of Banks Plan to Outsource Fraud Detection 
February 13, 2026  |  Fraud Prevention

The cost of fraud at U.S. financial institutions is rising, but the deeper threat may be what it does to customer relationships and brand reputation....

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AI Agents Are Becoming the New Power Brokers in Digital Commerce
AI Agents Are Becoming the New Power Brokers in Digital Commerce
February 12, 2026  |  Artificial Intelligence

This edition of “The Prompt Economy™ Tracker®” examines how tokenization is emerging as the foundational trust layer for agentic AI and the next generation of digital commerce....

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