POS and Retail

With the cost of processing business transactions remaining stubbornly high, a number of U.K. fintechs are working to facilitate open banking payments, a method which could soon enable consumers and businesses to make faster payments at a lower cost.

The U.S. District Court in New York has issued final approval of an estimated $6.2 billion settlement in the merchants' class-action lawsuit over swipe fees, a 15-year-long case against Visa and Mastercard. But the struggle between merchants and the card brands doesn't end here.

To compete and remain relevant in 2020 and beyond, organizations must rapidly develop, test and deploy innovative new products and services in increasingly larger amounts, says Paragon Application Systems' Steve Gilde.

When launching these solutions, it’s imperative that players think carefully about application security, says FIME's Christian Damour.

Given the financial health and outlook for many retailers, their ability to get the digital experience right could be the difference between operating in 2021, or joining the growing list of retail bankruptcies, says Applause's Kristin Simonini.

Smaller enterprises don't have the resources of larger firms, but open source technology may be helpful, says Pimcore's Shashin Shah.

Curve has appointed Paul Harrald to lead a business line that will allow the all-in-one card company to offer support for credit card debt reduction and installment payments.

Whether data leaks come from internal mistakes and exposures or from direct hacking, the outcome is the same. Data is exposed and cybercriminals are using it for fraud today, next year or several years from now, says NuData's Rosemary O'Neill.

WeWork has gotten its share of bad news this year, but parts of its concept are filtering into small business retail, providing one clue of what the next wave of shopping and payments will look like.

The new decade will see Generation Z become adults, and they will expect more services and activities to be facilitated by their device of choice, says Zoomd's Omri Argaman.

Removing the checkout means removing a key bottleneck that retailers rely on to sell tabloids, gum and candy.

The region is technologically advanced, but still has a large percentage of underbanked consumers, says PPRO's Javier Vallaure.

Payments technology operator Nets’ Creation Lab has launched a pilot that uses facial recognition alone to authorized payments with one merchant in Copenhagen.

When a crisis does strike, all too often organizations struggle to coordinate ongoing, speedy and effective responses, even when they have valid and compelling things to say, according to RockDove Solutions’ Chris Britton.

As more industries explore the potential of providing faster access to wages, restaurant management software provider Delaget has partnered with financial wellness mobile app provider Branch to expand the reach of instant earned wage access availability.

With customers now having the opportunity to onboard across multiple devices and channels, or even through a call center, the likelihood of an inconsistent experience is drastically increased, Neal Keene of Intelledox says.

American shoppers were quick off their marks early in the holiday-shopping season as retailers rang up the best sales increase since 2013, led by online purchases, according to a BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research report.

Those yard-long paper receipts that spew from cash registers may be following plastic bags and foie gras into the dustbin of New York City history.

With customers now having the opportunity to onboard across multiple devices and channels, or even through a call center, the likelihood of an inconsistent experience is drastically increased, says Intelledox's Neal Keene.

As merchants and fraud prevention specialists develop new strategies for fighting fraud, organized criminals find new vulnerabilities to exploit, a trend that shows no sign of letting up, says ClearSale's Rafael Lourenco.