Merchant

The fee for the Platinum account increased 25% to $695, making it the most expensive luxury travel card.

The company’s Tap to Phone technology exists in 30 countries. Visa is piloting the program in the U.S. with a six-city campaign that brings discounts, offers and grants to Black-owned small businesses.

Low card penetration and sparse borrower information in the region make it hard to determine an applicant's identity and ability to pay. Buy now/pay later lenders instead focus on factors such purchase activity, social media presence and even the speed at which users type their personal information.

Changing the retailer's prepaid card into a demand deposit account gives customers access to more digital banking tools.

Under federal health plans, categories like dental still have steep out-of-pocket costs, creating opportunities for companies like Sunbit and Ally Lending to provide options at the point of care.

Sunwest Bank in Irvine, California, lets business customers open new checking accounts completely online, a technology challenge some large and regional financial institutions have yet to tackle.

Beauty shops must handle transactions for multiple employees and contractors operating under one roof. Tech companies are customizing software and transaction processing services for this niche.

A growing number of companies like Klarna, Sezzle and Circle let consumers split large purchases into smaller transactions paid over time. But they say they need to offer more than one product to set themselves apart and build customer loyalty.

They may look different, but for opening accounts, serving small businesses and satisfying consumers' need for cash, branches remain essential.

A slew of websites operated by financial institutions, governments and airlines including Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing and Australia’s central bank went down briefly Thursday in the second global internet outage in two weeks.