Sat.Sep 17, 2016 - Fri.Sep 23, 2016

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Yahoo’s Massive Breach Could Affect Hundreds Of Millions Of Users

PYMNTS

If recent emerging reports are accurate, the team at Yahoo is about to bring new meaning to the phrase “having a tough morning.” Yahoo is apparently on the verge of reporting a massive data breach of its service — a giant hack that has exposed the data behind hundreds of millions of user accounts. At this point, that is about all that is known on the hack: Several sources close to the situation were not able to say much more about it other than commenting on its scale and the fact th

Sales 87
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Easing the Struggles of the Annual Budgeting Process

Planful

What are some of the biggest problems with the annual budget, and how can teams improve budget planning? Budgets Are Simple and Yet So Complex. Budgets can be strange. On the surface, they appear simple. After all, a budget is simply a financial plan for a set duration of the company, including the projected income and expenses of the business. It should be fairly straightforward to create, right?

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Fraud, In A Factory Setting

PYMNTS

Meet the newest factory worker: the fraudster. In the latest iteration of the Meet The Fraudster Podcast Series, Forter fraud analyst Gilit Saporta takes PYMNTS inside another class of cybercriminals, those known simply as the “factory fraudsters.”. The name conjures up, as Karen Webster noted, rows of workers populating a literal factory floor, with activity humming day in and day out — in this case, on the prowl to lure merchants into fraudulent transactions for goods to be sent, yet no legiti

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Connecting Small Banks To The Mobile Future

PYMNTS

Nine years after the introduction of the iPhone to the market — and the subsequent great mobile leap forward — the verdict is pretty much in on mobile banking applications: Consumers like it, verging on loving it, and are eager for more of it. This is great news — if one happens to be in charge of digital banking for one of the 20 or so largest banks in the world with massive scale, a huge budget to develop internal technical capacity and the ability to leverage advantageous partnerships with cu

Banking 82
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Why Tech-Forward Tax and Accounting Firms Have the Inside Track to the Future

Speaker: Joe Wroblewski, Sales Engineer Manager

Automating time-consuming manual tasks can save your firm hundreds of hours–and thousands of dollars. But it can also have longer-lasting benefits, like helping you attract and retain the next generation of CPAs, and we don’t need to tell you how important that is amid the current generational staffing crisis in the tax and accounting profession. You'll want to save your seat for this new webinar with industry expert Joe Wroblewski, where we'll explore how to: Maximize ROI with Cost-Effective Te

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Facebook Expands Payments Options And Its Obsession With Snapchat

PYMNTS

Facebook is trying hard to stamp its ground in the mobile space. In March 2015, Facebook Messenger began accepting payments. This marked the first P2P payments system within a communication platform. Facebook hired Paypal’s David Marcus to lead the charge, and Forbes predicted that Facebook’s revenues from payments would soar. In 2010, Facebook offered Facebook Credits, with which users could buy virtual goods in games, and created a subsidiary to manage the payments.

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Thieves Targeting Medical Device Data

PYMNTS

Cyberthieves are getting crafty, focusing on sensitive information by targeting medical devices. The number of instances is rapidly increasing. According to KPMG, over the past two years, 81 percent of health care organizations were the victims of cyberthreats or even had data compromised. The reason this is happening? More health care-related organizations are connecting to the internet for saving and sharing data but have poor cyberthreat monitoring, cybersecurity policies and data access cont

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Is It ‘A Bot Time’ For Payments To Jump On The Bot Bandwagon?

PYMNTS

The media has declared chatbots the digital version of the little black dress: a technology staple that every brand must now have and every payment type must now commerce-enable. Technology enthusiasts draw pictures on whiteboards showing bots as the new king of the stack, out-stacking the last great stack — apps, which sit on top of the next-to-last great stack — mobile operating systems, which sit on top of the next-to-next-to-last great stack — the web.

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Blockchain Startups Fine-Tune The Music Industry

PYMNTS

Startups specializing in blockchain may have their eye on disrupting the $15 billion music industry. According to Forbes , the music industry stands to benefit greatly from the use of blockchain technology. In many cases, musicians have to go through deals with several intermediaries, such as record labels, publishers and distributors, in order to make their music available to the masses.

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One Year In, Removing The Masking Tape From EMV

PYMNTS

Regardless of the event, anniversaries serve to remind us of what happened, how far we’ve come and what lies ahead. As the payments industry nears the one-year anniversary of the United States’ transition to EMV, of course, it’s an opportune time to take stock of progress and what remains to be done. High on that list, Jeremy Gumbley, CTO of Creditcall, says is removing the masking tape that now covers the card slots of many of the upgraded EMV terminals that now grace merchant countertops.

Retail 78
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Live Demo - Supercharge your Month End Close

Automation generally supercharges any process and brings its value to the forefront. See how infusing automation such as ART (our month-end close solution), into your close can get you to the next level of closing. We will share a live demo of SkyStem's solution, ART and share the key elements of month-end close automation. Through ART, we'll take a look at: What month-end close automation entails Which process steps can and should be automated Benefits of achieving process automation, and Why i

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The Treasury Management System, Unbundled

PYMNTS

There’s been talk of the role of the corporate treasurer elevating into a strategic position for the enterprise. That may be true for some companies, but often, the ability for the corporate treasurer to serve as a strategic player depends on the tools available at their disposal. SMEs rarely have the funds to invest in sophisticated treasury management systems (TMS), says TreasuryXpress CEO Anis Rahal, part of that is because the TMSs available are hefty, chock-full of tools that not eve

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B2B Subscriptions Change The Corporate Accounting Game

PYMNTS

From beauty care boxes to online entertainment streaming services, the world of subscriptions is expansive — and getting bigger. Consumers aren’t the only ones getting on board, though, as businesses jump on the subscription bandwagon in troves. If you need proof, look no further than the Software-as-a-Service world. Corporations are predicted to bump their spending on SaaS apps to $50.8 billion by 2018, a 13 percent jump from 2013 levels, while 27.8 percent of enterprise apps will be SaaS

B2B 78
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Global Payments Cybersecurity Task Force A Go

PYMNTS

With the pressure of cybercrime mounting in the financial services space, several central banks of the globe are joining together to figure out a strategy. Reports on Friday (Sept. 16) said several central banks have confirmed the formation of a task force to explore cybersecurity of cross-border payments and banking to protect interbank transactions.

Banking 78
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Chatbot Tracker: Pizza, Fashion & Cloud Computing

PYMNTS

Dare you. Nay, double dare you to find an industry without a bot. It’s true: bots have squeezed their way in and they’re changing the way companies interact with consumers online. . Recently, PYMNTS’ Karen Webster discussed if it’s time to jump on the “ Bot Bandwagon ” this week , and perhaps it is. Over the past week, bots are joining the fashion industry at runway events, delivering pizza without hopping off Facebook and peeking through in cloud technology.

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Mid-Year Review: How to Ignite Employee Potential Through Meaningful Feedback

Mid-year performance reviews aren’t just boxes for HR to check. Paycor’s toolkit empowers leaders to: Identify high-potential team members. Boost engagement with meaningful feedback. Support struggling employees. Nurture top talent to drive results. Learn how to ignite employee potential through meaningful feedback. When you nurture top talent, everybody wins.

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Bitcoin For Night Owls

PYMNTS

Now You Can Trade Bitcoin Any Time. The Winklevoss twins want to trade bitcoin, and they want to do it now. Growing impatient waiting for their ETF fund to be listed and to boost bitcoin trading, the cofounders of the Gemini Trust Company, a digital currency exchange based in the U.S., are introducing a daily bitcoin auction so that the currency can be traded any time.

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Sandbox Bill Announced For FinTech, Gov Regulations

PYMNTS

The FinTech industry is undoubtedly a competitive one — never mind the cross-country rivalry. As digital currencies, like bitcoin, expand their reach and more people pay using their smartphone, there are concerns that the U.S. may fall behind to other leading countries, specifically the U.K, which is making strides in the space. To make sure the U.S. doesn’t lose potential FinTech business opportunities to the U.K., Rep.

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On-Demand Services Look To Chatbots, Live Chat

PYMNTS

Rapidfy , an on-demand platform that connects customers with service professionals and small and medium enterprises is looking to improve how these professionals interact with customers. The firm announced today (Sept. 20) that it will introduce artificial intelligence-powered chatbots and utilize Live Chat for websites to help foster this improved interaction.

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Cheap Flights The Ticket To Corporate Travel Growth

PYMNTS

International companies are pulling back their spend on corporate travel, according to recent analysis. But the latest data from Advito finds the key to corporate travel spend increases. According to the firm’s 2017 industry forecast report, outlined by Skift , cheaper airfare is the ticket to expanding business travel in the year ahead. Analysis predicts hotel fares to rise slightly, but airline prices to stay flat for 2017.

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Your Accounting Expertise Will Only Get You So Far: What Really Matters

Speaker: Victor C. Barnes, CPA, MBA

In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. If you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner—and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top (a concept first popularized by Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There ). What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level.

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Task Force Formed On Cybersecurity

PYMNTS

On Friday (Sept. 16), the world’s major central banks launched a task force focused on cybersecurity in cross-border banking and protecting interbank payments. In a statement, Benoit Coeure, chairman of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, part of the Bank for International Settlements, said that recent incidents of cyberfraud have become a concern for the central banking community.

Banking 76
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Norwegian Startups Navigate To FinTech Success

PYMNTS

While there’s a lot of tech innovation brewing in the Nordics, the Norwegian startup scene may just be outshining them all. Norway has long been a small, and underestimated, tech center, but it seems the government’s heavy investment in the nation’s startup ecosystem is finally paying off. In this week’s edition of PYMNTS’ Weekly Tech Center Roundup , we explore the Nordic region, where Norway is taking a strong lead across the FinTech landscape.

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Surviving And Thriving Off Of Data In The Omni Era

PYMNTS

With big-box retailers, like Walmart, expected to spend more than $1 billion on eCommerce this year, merchants are making a concerted effort to bolster their omnichannel strategies. But significant investments aren’t just made on a whim, as retailers rely heavily on analytics to craft winning omnicommerce strategies. Interpreting data correctly, however, can make all the difference between success and failure in the retail industry.

Retail 76
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B2B Check Use Rising Despite Approach Of Same Day ACH

PYMNTS

Same Day ACH is ready for its debut at the end of the week, and for some, its launch signals the next step for the payments industry to become faster and more digital. In B2B payments, those characteristics could have a significant impact on supplier payments and other B2B payment habits. But a new report finds that, even as Same Day ACH is fast-approaching, businesses are actually increasing their use of paper checks.

B2B 76
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The Hidden Science Behind Why Finance Teams Resist Change—And How to Fix It

Speaker: Kim Beynon, CPA, CGMA, PMP

The most overlooked, yet most critical, element of transformation is preparing people for change. Automation and AI aren't just technical upgrades, they’re cultural shifts which can challenge identities. That’s why change management isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation. In finance, where precision and process rule, navigating change can feel especially disruptive.

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SWIFT Sets Sights On Smart Contracts

PYMNTS

SWIFT is the latest FinTech player to perk up at the thought of using distributed ledger technology for business transactions. In an announcement on Thursday (Sept. 22), SWIFT released a new paper exploring the use of distributed ledger technologies, like blockchain, and their potential implications for smart contracts , a more enforceable and secure contract that could have significant implications for corporate trade and other business processes. “The promise of DLT [distributed ledger

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Study: Big Brands Still Don’t Understand Their Customers

PYMNTS

Amido , a vendor-agnostic technical consulting agency, believes that the majority of big brands are still failing to understand their customers, despite a number of technological solutions designed to help them do so. In a new report , Amido states that six key verticals are currently struggling to create individualized customer identity profiles due to the rapidly paced, increasingly digital nature of retail.

Retail 76
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Breaking Down The Faster Payments Construct

PYMNTS

[link]. In just a matter of days, the payments industry will see a significant — and ubiquitous — change in the way payments are sent and received. Same Day ACH will create a new option for faster payments for all the banks and credit unions across the U.S. Two new same-day settlement windows will be added to the ACH Network, which will increase the actual movement of funds between all those financial institutions from once a day (at the beginning of the day) to three times a day.

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Have Consumer Privacy And Matchmakers Reached A Crossroads?

PYMNTS

[link]. Friction, and the elimination of it, is what successful matchmakers solve — and solve for successfully. Sometimes, those frictions are how hard it is to find suppliers to meet a demand or finding an easy way to make a payment inside of a marketplace. Other times, it is how much control consumers have over their personal information and whether that lack of control keeps them from getting on board.

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Doing More With Less: The Modern Finance Miracle

Speaker: Mark Gilham, FCCA, CPP

Finance used to be the function that counted, now it's the one that’s counted on. 📊 For accounting firms, controllers, and finance leaders, expectations are rising faster than headcount. Businesses want agile forecasts, granular analysis, seamless reporting, and smart automation—often without added resources while demanding uncompromised accuracy and compliance.