Sat.Apr 28, 2018 - Fri.May 04, 2018

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Turning To APIs To Bridge The Gap Between Old And New Tech

PYMNTS

From mom-and-pop retail shops to the world’s largest companies, nearly every business is looking to offer the latest technology to its consumers. For many in the financial services world, though, implementing innovations is easier said than done. So, what’s standing in the way of FIs, the largest of which come to the table armed with big budgets and endless resources?

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State Tax Update for Technology Companies

Katz,Sapper&Miller

For years the tech community has grappled with Indiana’s taxation of software, and specifically software-as-a-service (SaaS). But with the passage of Indiana Senate Bill 257, sellers and buyers of SaaS products now have clearer guidance, which is effective beginning July 1, 2018.

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Can FinTech Walk The FinTalk?

PYMNTS

Benjamin Franklin is best remembered as a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and a prolific inventor who created the lightning rod after flying a kite with a key on it in a thunderstorm. A little known fact, perhaps, is that Franklin is credited with inventing two things that almost every person has used — or will — at some point in their lifetime: swimming fins and bifocals.

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Why Amazon Targets B2B eCommerce’s ‘Tail Spend’

PYMNTS

In some sense, B2B eCommerce offerings have had a customer base for longer than they’ve actually had their own hub on Amazon, Martin Rohde, head of commercial customers for Amazon Business, told Karen Webster in a recent conversation. First founded about three years ago in 2015, Amazon Business – the firm’s B2B eCommerce marketplace – has grown up quickly.

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What Your Financial Statements Are Telling You—And How to Listen!

Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker

Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.

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Socure’s New CEO On Digital Identity’s Future

PYMNTS

It’s like the band is back together. Thirty-three years ago, Tom Thimot, the newly appointed CEO of Socure , collaborated with founder Sunil Madhu on a business specializing in physical identity verification and access solutions: Netegrity, which was ultimately sold in 2005 to CA Technologies for $430 million. From there, Madhu worked for Cisco and founded Hopskoch and Socure, while Thimot built a number of businesses that straddled data and security in some way.

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More Banks See Value In Faster Payments And APIs, Finds ACI Worldwide

PYMNTS

A new survey by ACI Worldwide and Ovum found evidence that financial institutions (FIs) are more willing to open up their data via API and are embracing real-time payments initiatives. The report, published on Monday (April 30), found nearly three-quarters of banks surveyed (73 percent) said they would be willing to open up data to third-party developers via API.

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Visa ‘Hackathon’ Produces A Digital Payment Tool For Small Businesses

PYMNTS

Its name is Hermyz. Its mission, which just won the official admiration of Visa , is to move small businesses away from checks and paper receipts by migrating invoice management online. Hermyz took the grand prize and the $10,000 that came with it at last weekend’s Small Business Hackathon, an inaugural event that took place in Washington, D.C., with the backing of Visa and the U.S.

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Chef’d CEO: Why The Existing Meal Kit Model Doesn’t Work

PYMNTS

Get ready for a shift in the meal kit landscape, according to Chef’d CEO Kyle Ransford. In the latest Topic TBD with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, which explored the preparation and delivery of food rendered as a service, Ransford predicted that “I think the subscription meal kit as it’s been known will be vastly diminished in the next two years. It won’t be something that you hear a lot of or get marketed to a lot.

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The Interoperability-Integration Debate: Where APIs Fit

PYMNTS

New technology and solutions powered by APIs are hitting the financial services market every day, brought on by new innovations or industry regulations. But introducing tech to stay compliant with new regulations and expecting easy adoption in a competitive space is a steep hill to climb – one made even tougher by outdated or legacy technology and IT infrastructure. .

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The (eCommerce) Race Is To The Swift

PYMNTS

Going too slow these days is a costly error to make, as consumers don’t have the patience to wait for their merchants to catch up. If a purchase takes too long to complete, customers will migrate to another site where things move more smoothly, according to this month’s Checkout Conversion Index. And while it’s an exaggeration to state that customers are all turning to Amazon , the eCommerce giant’s latest earnings release indicates a lot of them are.

Sales 63
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Forecasting Failures Are Costly: Here's How To Fix Them

Speaker: Dave Sackett

Traditional budgeting and forecasting methods can no longer keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Static budgets, rigid annual forecasts, and outdated financial models limit an organization’s ability to adapt to market shifts and economic uncertainty. To stay ahead, finance leaders must leverage a future-forward approach—one that leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and continuous planning to drive smarter financial decisions.

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Treasurers Overconfident On Cyber Defenses

PYMNTS

With a threefold increase in the number of corporates who had been hit by a ransomware attack in the last year compared to a year prior, corporate treasurers have been forced to swallow the large, uncomfortable pill of the threat of cyberattacks and fraud on their organizations in a short amount of time. But Strategic Treasurer , which highlighted that statistic in its latest Treasury Fraud & Controls survey report sponsored by Bottomline Technologies, found an impressively high level of opt

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The Biggest Banking, Regulatory Challenges For Today’s Entrepreneur

PYMNTS

National Small Business Week is this week in the U.S., and finance experts are celebrating with new data on the state of the entrepreneurial community. The verdict, overall, is quite good: Small business optimism is, again, at new heights. But analysts from Bank of America, Square, Navcom and the National Association for the Self-Employed warn that challenges for some SMBs have reached new heights, too.

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Mapping The Black Box: A Look Inside Machine Learning’s Powers And Quirks

PYMNTS

“Machine learning is the answer to the financial inclusion problem.”. So said Douglas Merrill, founder of ZestFinance. It’s a bold statement, considering that the lending space is still trying to articulate what, exactly, the financial inclusion problem is — and everyone else is still trying to figure out what, exactly, “machine learning” means and why it matters to them.

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The Role Of Customer Service In Strengthening The Processor/Merchant Bond

PYMNTS

Customer service matters in all walks of business, to consumers and businesses alike, but especially so in payments. Troubleshooting issues when they arise, or anticipating them before they happen, can make all the difference in ensuring transactions and other business processes flow smoothly and voluminously. In an interview with PYMNTS, Latiffa Sharpe, vice president of merchant services for First American Payment Systems , said that merchants, in establishing relationships with their payment

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Are Robots Replacing You? Keeping Humans in the Loop in Automated Environments

Speaker: Erroll Amacker

As businesses increasingly adopt automation, finance leaders must navigate the delicate balance between technology and human expertise. This webinar explores the critical role of human oversight in accounts payable (AP) automation and how a people-centric approach can drive better financial performance. Join us for an insightful discussion on how integrating human expertise into automated workflows enhances decision-making, reduces fraud risks, strengthens vendor relationships, and accelerates R

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Synchrony Amazon.com Store Card Holders Can Now Check Balances Via Voice

PYMNTS

Synchrony , the financial services company, announced news on Wednesday (May 2) that customers can now use voice commands to manage their Amazon.com Store Card. In a press release , Synchrony said it is making this happen via a new skill for Alexa, dubbed the Store Card skill. Via voice commands, cardholders can check their account information, review recent purchases and charges, get payment details and even pay their bill.

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Starbucks’ US Traffic Flat In Q2 As Promos Fail To Take Off

PYMNTS

Starbucks promotional efforts, which it has been increasing recently, failed to resonate with customers, resulting in the company reporting lackluster store traffic in the U.S. for two quarters in a row. Reuters , citing the company’s second-quarter financial results, reported that same-store sales in the Americas — which is led by the U.S. — increased 2 percent in the second quarter.

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The Quiet Sea Change At QVC

PYMNTS

Home shopping used to mean something quite different in the United States than it does today. In the pre-digital, pre-web and pre- Amazon world, shopping at home meant shopping from the couch — from TV channels like QVC or HSN , but a similar model no matter which way one went. Each program would feature a genial host hawking directly to consumer wares, perhaps some “Diamonique” jewelry.

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Telegram Bags ICO

PYMNTS

After bringing in $1.7 billion from private investors, messaging app Telegram has called off its public initial coin offering (ICO). According to The Wall Street Journal , Telegram raised the money by selling newly created cryptocurrency to fewer than 200 private investors. The company will use the funds for a project, Telegram Open Network, which will expand its technology and further redevelop its messenger service, which has about 200 million users globally.

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Book of Secrets on the Month-End Close

Based off SkyStem's popular e-Book, the book of secrets to the month-end close will be revealed in this one-hour webinar. Learn leading practices when it comes to building a strong and sustainable month-end close that has room to grow and evolve. Learn about the power of precise estimates, why reconciliations are critical to closing the books, how and when to automate, and how the chart of accounts play into your close process.

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TRENDING: Can Escrow Disbursements Ease Gig Worker Payment Woes?

PYMNTS

Whether it’s a full-time employee waiting for a regular paycheck, a gig worker expecting to be paid in short order or a borrower seeking a loan, payment frictions can be a roadblock to financial stability. And, if they aren’t cleared seamlessly, these hurdles can cause bills to be missed, expansion plans to be delayed and business relationships to crumble.

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Startup Roundup: New Innovations In Bloom

PYMNTS

Sometimes, being a startup is about fixing the problem no one else will fix. Other times, it’s about improving on existing solutions to make something even better. Whether it’s streamlining workflows (like DadeSystems’ “Twitter for B2B” ), building a new product (like FitPay’s eVault for payment and ID cards) or creating a whole new way for the unbanked to manage their money (as nanopay observed in India), what seems to be true across the board is that these companies are always moving, always g

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FLEETCOR Reveals Gift Card Data Breach

PYMNTS

FLEETCOR Technologies , a provider of commercial payment services, reported a data breach as the company announced on Thursday (May 3) a 17 percent year-over-year revenue increase for the first quarter of 2018, beating analyst expectations. In its earnings statement, FLEETCOR said that on April 26, it “identified suspicious activity primarily on systems involving the company’s Stored Value Solutions gift card business.

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Amazon Business Adds Invoicing, Allowing Buyers To Delay Payment

PYMNTS

Amazon Business is introducing a new invoicing feature that could impose cash flow pressure on sellers, according to AuctionBytes. The blog posted excerpts from an email reportedly sent by Amazon Business to U.S. sellers on the B2B eCommerce platform, advising them of the launch of Pay by Invoice. The feature, which requires no action or onboarding on the part of the vendor, enables corporate buyers to make invoiced purchases.

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How To Break Digital Transformation Barriers And Accelerate AI Adoption

Speaker: Anna Tiomina, MBA

AI is reshaping industries, yet finance remains one of the slowest adopters. Concerns over compliance, legacy systems, and data silos have made finance teams hesitant to embrace AI-driven transformation. But delaying adoption isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about staying competitive in a rapidly evolving landscape. How can finance leaders overcome these challenges and start leveraging AI effectively?

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WhatsApp Founder Leaves Company Over Facebook Data Strategy

PYMNTS

The co-founder of WhatsApp, a messaging service owned by Facebook , announced he is leaving the company. Jan Koum, who co-founded WhatsApp with Brian Acton, is leaving the company after disagreements over the messaging service’s strategy, as well as Facebook’s attempts to use its personal data and weaken its encryption. “It’s been almost a decade since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it’s been an amazing journey with some of the best people,” Koum, said in a post on his Facebook page, accordin

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Pitney Bowes Renews Partnership With eBay

PYMNTS

Extending its multiyear collaboration, Pitney Bowes has announced a renewal of its partnership with eBay. The partnership, which has been in place since 2012, focuses on providing a way for eBay sellers in the U.S. to “sell internationally and ship domestically” through eBay’s Global Shipping Program (GSP), Pitney Bowes said in an announcement. Through the program, U.S.

B2C 49
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BMW, Ford, GM Join New Blockchain Consortium Focused On Transportation

PYMNTS

MOBI , the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative, debuted on Wednesday (May 2) to explore blockchain for use in transportation. In a press release , the group, which includes BMW, Bosch, Ford, General Motors, Groupe Renault, ZF, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Services USA and others, will focus on using blockchain to make transportation safer, more affordable and more accessible.

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EU May Create Algorithms To Find Anti-Competitive Pricing

PYMNTS

To find companies that may be using software to fix prices, EU regulators may create their own algorithms. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that it’s now easy for price collusion to occur, Reuters reported. “It is a hypothesis that not all algorithms will have been to law school,” Vestager said at an event on Friday (May 4).

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New Software & You: Elevating Your Tech Stack

Speaker: Joe Wroblewski, Senior Sales Engineer

Is your tech stack working for you—or are you working for it ? 🤖 In today’s world of automation and AI, technology should simplify workflows—not add complexity. Seamless integration and interconnectivity are key to maximizing productivity, optimizing workflows, and improving collaboration. Join expert Joe Wroblewski for a practical and insightful session on how you can build a smarter, more connected tech stack that drives efficiency and long-term success!

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SoundHound Raises $100M In A New Round Of Funding

PYMNTS

SoundHound , a voice-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) and conversational intelligence technologies company, announced news on Thursday (May 3) that it has raised $100 million in new funding from a group of strategic investors. In a press release, the company said investors in the round of funding include Tencent Holdings, Daimler, Hyundai Motor Company, Midea Group and Orange.

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Making Way For The Up-And-Comers

PYMNTS

Cheers to the up-and-comers: the new and emerging forces that are transforming how people around the world think about payments and commerce. They can be found in the B2B scene, in the explosion of the P2P market and in the rapid expansion of the gig economy — m ore and more companies are going global and trying to figure out how to make their funding motion match.

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Amaryllis Makes TRANSACT 18 Impact

PYMNTS

Startup Amaryllis made an appearance at TRANSACT 18 in Las Vegas April 16 through 19 – the company’s first 10-by-10 booth at a major conference, noted CEO Mark Bishopp , and an experience that was right in line with the startup’s goal to make 2018 “the year of getting the word out” about Amaryllis. According to the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), TRANSACT brings together all parts of the payments ecosystem – from ISOs/VARs to ISVs and large financial institutions to technology compani

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Blockchain Moves From POC Into Pilots And Beta Tests

PYMNTS

Blockchain applications may still be a ways away from real-world proliferation, but the technology is certainly beginning to take steps from proof-of-concept phase into beta and pilot testing. This week’s Blockchain Tracker takes a look at some of the latest initiatives to make progress and inch closer to a real-world launch. IBM. IBM is no stranger to blockchain, and the technology conglomerate has several distributed ledger projects in the works.

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The Human Side of Finance: The Intersectionality of People, Culture, Adaptability, and Resilience

Speaker: Melissa Hurrington

Finance isn’t just about the numbers. It’s about the people behind them. In a world of constant disruption, resilient finance teams aren’t just operationally efficient. They are adaptable, engaged, and deeply connected to a strong organizational culture. Success lies at the intersection of people, culture, adaptability, and resilience. Finance leaders who master this balance will build teams that thrive through uncertainty and drive long-term business impact.