PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

Sixty years ago today (Sept. 18), a San Francisco startup launched by sending roughly 60,000 credit cards to consumers living in northern California. This startup was a bank, and its innovation was a single card that could be used by consumers to purchase things on credit from many different merchants. The card eliminated the need for consumers to establish credit with multiple merchants, then carry multiple cards issued by each of those merchants to pay for purchases over time.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Amazon.com announced Wednesday (September 19) that it launched in Turkey, enabling consumers in the country to shop from millions of products over the internet. In a press release , Amazon said Amazon.com.tr is now live, featuring products in 15 different categories including books, consumer electronics, sports, outdoor, tools and more. “Our mission at Amazon is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, at great pri

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

In tech, innovation is everything. In innovation, intellectual property is, well, almost everything — it can be the hardware, the software, the processes that come from creative endeavor. And patents? Well, consider them a form of competitive advantage. News came recently, when it comes to patents tied to the blockchain landscape, that Thomson Reuters found China, and Alibaba , to have had an outsized showing.

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Healthcare Technology Washington Transportation 80

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Western Union is reportedly considering a sale of its business payments operation, unnamed sources told Bloomberg on Wednesday (Sept. 26). The sources said a deal could give Western Union a $500 million boost, and that the institution plans to start discussing a sale with potential buyers in a few weeks. They noted, however, that Western Union has not definitively decided to sell its business payments unit and that its plans remain confidential.

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Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

Account

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

Travel companies know that payments innovation is mission-critical when it comes to acquiring and retaining consumers all over the world. It’s a clear fact in the data — 81 percent of travel firms indicated that payments innovation is on the menu for the next three years, according to the PYMNTS/ Amadeus IT Group Travel Payments Study. Bart Tompkins, managing director of Amadeus Payments Business Unit , told Karen Webster in a recent interview that it’s also apparent in his conversations with ai

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Sales Start-ups Finance 78

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

I needed a few outdoor cushions earlier this season and hired a local upholstery shop to make them. This small business is a really small business: a guy working out of a teeny tiny storefront in a little town north of Boston. The shop came highly recommended for the quality of his work and high service levels. The sole proprietor is a hard-working immigrant who’s been in business in this town for 20 years.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Digital commerce channels are presenting new opportunities for bad actors, making cybercrime a colossal problem for companies of all sizes. All told, U.S. businesses and consumers lost more than $1.4 billion in 300,000-plus reported cyberattacks last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Perhaps more troubling, however, is digital fraud’s projected future.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Sizzle Of The Week: AR/VR’s Retail Gains. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have spent much of 2018 generating buzz as a potential tool for retailers looking to bridge the digital/physical gap and deliver an all-encompassing, omnichannel shopping experience. Retailers and merchants — big and small — have come running to the tech. Some of the luminaries on the field include Target , Walmart, Amazon , eBay , Macy’s, Ikea and Airbnb , all of which have made some type of notabl

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Uber Technologies, the ride-hailing company, is reportedly in early-stage talks to acquire Deliveroo , the food delivery company. Bloomberg , citing people familiar with the plans, reported the deal could be worth several billion dollars. Deliveroo , which is based in the U.K., was most recently valued at greater than $2 billion, noted Bloomberg. Acquiring the startup would be a big effort on the part of Uber to lead in the food delivery market in Europe.

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Technology 77

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

Ripple (XRP) has overtaken Ethereum within the last 24 hours, with a 7 percent surge in price for a market valuation of $24.28 billion. According to CCN , this is the third time this year that Ripple has moved past Ethereum, with each time occurring in the second half of September. But with the market cap of Ethereum only slightly below that of Ripple — combined with the weak volume of XRP — it is likely that Ethereum will regain its position as the second-most valuable cryptocurrency soon.

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Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant

Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.

Account

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

The treasury management unit of PNC Bank is joining RippleNet, the firm said on Wednesday (Sept. 19). PNC Treasury Management joined the Ripple cross-border payments network that uses blockchain to facilitate global transactions. As members of the network, corporate customers of PNC Treasury Management will be able to receive cross-border payments, the FI said, adding that the solution can help them receive payments against their invoices more quickly for streamlined accounts receivable.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

Ripple , the blockchain startup, is heading up a new cryptocurrency lobbying group called Securing America’s Internet of Value Coalition. Coindesk , citing a Business Standard report late last week, reported the companies behind the lobbying group also include the RippleWorks Foundation ; Coil , a company developing a solution for digital payments; Hard Yaka , an investment firm focusing on digital assets; and PolySign , a company seeking to be a crypto custodian.

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Government Technology 76

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Spending on cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) systems is expected to see continued strong growth as businesses invest in projects in those areas. According to market research firm International Data Corp.’s Semiannual Cognitive Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Guide , spending on cognitive and AI systems will reach $77.6 billion in 2022, more than three times the $24.0 billion forecast for this year.

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Technology Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Government 76

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

In an effort to kill the check — where B2B payments are anything but efficient — might virtual cards be the answer? In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, Scot Yarbrough, group executive of commercial services , and Todd King, vice president of product management , both at TSYS , said the embrace of electronic payments may have been slow to get beyond a standing start, but momentum is building.

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Join us in this webinar, where we share best practices on how to think about the reconciliation work each month, when best to do reconciliations, how they should be prepared, and some common pitfalls to avoid. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how to properly prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations and its impact on the financial statements.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

What can you say about a cryptocurrency that shows a meteoric rise, surging more than 80 percent in a day? That maybe … you wished you had some in hand? Beyond that, we’re talking about cryptocurrencies, so the question must be posed, as always, when separating hope from hype: Is it different this time? That means looking into not just “what” happened, but also “why” it happened.

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Government 76

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Before there was Alexa , Bixby , Siri and Google Assistant , there was Emma Nutt. Emma Nutt, born in 1860 in a small town in Maine, was hired by Alexander Graham Bell in 1878 to be the world’s first female telephone switchboard operator. When Bell’s invention — the telephone — was first introduced, phones were sold in pairs, and calls could be made between those two parties only.

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Technology Start-ups Maine Transportation 76

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Whether in Australia, India, Europe or the United States, mobile phones aren’t just driving interconnectivity, but are the key channel driving innovation in payments and commerce. Still, even in this digital world, where everyone and everything is connected via mobile, going global can be tough for a company looking to expand its operations abroad. Payments landscapes in different regions can vary greatly, and to succeed, businesses need to know the ropes.

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Legal Technology 76

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association — announced that its membership has approved three new rules that will expand Same-Day ACH for all financial institutions and their customers. The first rule will allow Same-Day ACH transactions to be submitted to the ACH Network for an additional two hours every business day, while the second boosts the Same-Day ACH per-transaction dollar limit to $100,000, and the third rule increases the speed of funds availability for certain Same-Day ACH and next

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Speaker: David Warren and Kevin O’Neill Stoll

Transitioning to a usage-based business model offers powerful growth opportunities but comes with unique challenges. How do you validate strategies, reduce risks, and ensure alignment with customer value? Join us for a deep dive into designing effective pilots that test the waters and drive success in usage-based revenue. Discover how to develop a pilot that captures real customer feedback, aligns internal teams with usage metrics, and rethinks sales incentives to prioritize lasting customer eng

Sales

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018

The latest corporate banking offering by Citi aims to virtualize treasurer accounts for more personalized, streamlined services. The bank said in an announcement Tuesday (Sept. 25) that it is rolling out Citi Virtual Accounts for institutional clients. The tool lets corporate customers segregate balances within their physical accounts into virtual ones, which can offer enhanced receivables, payments and liquidity management.

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accountant Account accounted Technology 75

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Robotics process automation (RPA) is a fast-rising star in the enterprise software space, touting its ability to go beyond surface-level automation and provide true efficiencies to businesses. Investors are clearly impressed, thanks to a funding round for one startup that now claims it may be the fastest-growing enterprise software company in history.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

Amazon announced on Tuesday (Sept. 18) the launch of a new API, dubbed Alexa Gadget Toolkit, which is aimed at creating more functions for the Alexa Gadgets. According to Amazon, Alexa Gadgets are accessories that pair to compatible Echo devices via Bluetooth and extend Alexa’s abilities with motors, lights and sound chips, among other things. The toolkit offers developers self-service APIs, including Gadget Interfaces, which provide the metadata of Alexa capabilities on compatible Echo devices.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

Amazon.com Inc. is reportedly gearing up to launch a new store later Monday (September 17) where consumers can shop the U.S. small and medium sized businesses that sell on the platform. According to a report in FoxBusiness.com, the store is being called Amazon Storefronts and gives customers access to a more than one million products from close to 20,000 U.S. businesses.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

Stripe, the payments company, announced on Monday (Sept. 17) the launch of Stripe Terminal, a product that will enable online businesses and platforms to accept in-person payments with Stripe. In a press release, Stripe said Stripe Terminal extends its infrastructure to the physical world, enabling developers to build custom payment experiences for in-person transactions in the same way they have been doing it for online merchants.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

Taxify , the African ride-hailing app company, is ahead of Uber Technologies, moving from an Estonian startup to a tech unicorn within five years, reported The Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ). According to a report in the paper citing Taxify, the company has 2.4 million active users in six African countries including Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana.

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Transportation Technology Start-ups 75

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

Phishers caught a big one — any way it’s sliced, $81 million is a big haul. The fraudsters who hacked their way into the Bangladesh central bank two years ago got there by getting into software tied to the SWIFT financial platform. The way they got there? By casting a line by email, of course, offering a cautionary tale for anyone who sees a link they are quick to click.

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Entertainment New York Government accountant 75

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

The financial services (FinServ) market is, by far, ahead of other industries when it comes to blockchain innovation and adoption, according to data released this year by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Much of that innovation has been focused on corporate finance and payments, as top financial services players have introduced new blockchain solutions in an effort to disrupt and improve corporate payments.

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Speaker: Mark Stovel

When it comes to automating, many firms focus on finding the latest tech, believing that efficiency is something achieved through new tools. Yet true efficiency is achieved by delivering real value to clients, not merely by upgraded systems. Without a clear approach, no level of automation can overcome the complexities of serving every client’s needs.

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

SAP has been chosen by cosmetics company Grupo Boticário to digitize its cosmetics supply chain, reports said on Wednesday (Sept. 19). Based in Brazil, Grupo Boticário is a leading manufacturer of cosmetics and perfume. The company has points of sale across 13 countries, according to reports in Retail Times. In an announcement, Grupo Boticário said it has chosen SAP and its SAP Ariba solution to digitize its supply chain and procure-to-pay processes.

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Manufacturing Retail Sales Technology 75

PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 11, 2018

RiskIQ, the security firm, told outlets on Tuesday (Sept. 11) that the data breach at British Airways was due to credit card skimming installed by malware hackers. According to reports , Yonathan Klijnsma, a threat researcher at RiskIQ, told the outlet that the same group of hackers that breached Ticketmaster may be behind the attack at British Airways, in which more than 380,000 credit cards were compromised.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Switzerland is reportedly exploring ways to make it easier for blockchain companies to open corporate bank accounts as the government moves to prevent those innovators from leaving the country. Reports in Reuters on Friday (Sept. 21) said the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) is taking measures to address what the publication described as an “exodus” of blockchain projects from Switzerland.

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PYMNTS

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

A cyberattack on what’s been described as a “decentralized” token exchange reportedly has led to a $58,000 theft and an illustration of a “shocking security vulnerability.”. According to a report in The Next Web , hackers flooded the exchange with “one billion fake EOS.” EOS refers to “a decentralized operating system [that] is developed to support decentralized applications in commercial scale by providing them [with] all the essential support and features,” as per one common definition.

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Setting the stage for successful organizational change always begins with clear, thoughtful communication. When it comes to rolling out a new travel and expense (T&E) policy, establishing a well-structured communication plan is key to ensuring that all employees understand the changes and their impact. By following a step-by-step approach, you can guide your organization through the transition, fostering smooth adoption from the outset and improving compliance.