PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
American Express has reportedly filed a patent related to faster payments and blockchain technology, reports in CoinDesk said. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released the patent application filed by American Express Travel Related Services Company, the payment technology firm’s travel unit, which outlines the use of blockchain technology to accelerate payments between two parties.
PYMNTS
MARCH 14, 2018
If some is good, more is better. That seems to be the idea among banks both big and small when it comes to APIs , as several players from around the financial services industry recently increased their investment in APIs, rolling out new solutions aimed at making B2B payments more efficient. . But it isn’t all about efficiency. Several financial institutions are turning to APIs to provide their corporate clients with new products and services that deliver flexibility and put them in control. .
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PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
What does it take for a fashion brand to stay on top of the trends? A lot of market data. But not all brands excel at crawling the web for information relevant to their businesses. “A lot of brands are having a hard time keeping up with the pace of consumer changes,” StyleSage ’s Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy Elizabeth Shobert told PYMNTS in an interview.
PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
This time last year, if a customer asked Cascade about cryptocurrency loading, the startup had to tell them, “We don’t do that.” Its partner banks weren’t supporting the feature, so neither could Cascade. But as more and more people started asking about it, Founder and CEO Spencer Schmerling began to recognize the big opportunity in front of him. That’s why Schmerling said the startup is now launching a crypto loading capability, among other new services and API enhancements.
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
PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
Ever since 2013, when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the eCommerce giant was working on a 30-minute drone delivery program called Prime Air, people have been saying that delivery is the big retail use case for drone technology. Domino’s furthered the point by delivering a pizza by drone in 2016. Regulatory red tape has so far kept either delivery program from becoming a reality, but the technology was there and the value proposition was clear, as retail and logistics companies worldwide struggle to
Corporate Finance Brief brings together the best content for corporate finance professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
PYMNTS
MARCH 14, 2018
Moving money across country lines is rarely easy or cheap, and that’s especially true in countries with large un- and under-banked populations, like Mexico. In a country where 60 percent of people choose not to bank due to a cultural mistrust of financial institutions, how can a payments app gain trust and bring value to those citizens by sending money cross-border for $0.99?
PYMNTS
MARCH 14, 2018
Online ordering: the asset that’s a burden, the blessing that’s a curse, the “Can’t live with it, can’t live without it” of restaurant life. There’s a lot to be said both in favor of and against putting one’s menu online, and particularly on third-party aggregation platforms like Grubhub and Uber Eats. Except, not really — not according to Alex Canter, founder of Ordermark.
PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
Ride-hailing company Lyft is reportedly testing the availability of monthly subscription plans for customers who use the service a lot. Citing comments Lyft Chief Executive Logan Green made at a press event this week, The Verge reported Lyft could take a page from Netflix and Spotify by bringing a subscription-based model to the transportation market.
PYMNTS
MARCH 14, 2018
While consumers are still using multiple platforms — such as desktop and mobile — “mobile-only” users are on the rise. In fact, “mobile-only” users surpassed 30 percent of users in almost half of the markets studied by comScore in 2017 for its “ Global Digital Future in Focus ” report. “Global digital landscapes continue to evolve in often surprising ways,” Will Hodgman, EVP of International Sales at comScore, said in a press release.
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PYMNTS
MARCH 13, 2018
Ripple , the blockchain payments company, is gearing up to invest in startups and technology firms that create more uses for its cryptocurrency XRP. In an interview with TechCrunch on the sidelines of Money2020, the payments conference currently being held in Singapore, Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said the company is focused on enabling banks to use its blockchain software offering, while also looking to invest in startups that could provide alternative uses for XRP.
PYMNTS
MARCH 12, 2018
Fraud experts warn it could be a business-shuttering mistake to assume an SMB is less susceptible to fraud than large enterprises. An estimated 86 percent of companies around the world experienced at least one cyberattack last year, according to Kroll research, as cited by Insurance Business last week. “The most devastating impacts of a data breach can only be avoided by both working to prevent a breach and by planning and preparing a response before an incident occurs,” Jerry Thompson, senior v
PYMNTS
MARCH 13, 2018
Those hungry for takeout in many cities can choose from a variety of restaurant delivery services. But that’s not the case for some cities, such as Youngstown, Ohio. The on-demand economy hasn’t yet taken off in Youngstown, according to Grubdom Founder Jay White, who hopes to change that with a website and forthcoming mobile app that will allow local diners to order grub from local restaurants.
PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
The financial services industry’s sudden support for application programming interfaces (APIs) has people talking about the power of data sharing. Certainly regulations like PSD2 and the U.K.’s Open Banking initiative encourage API development and adoption, with industry players acknowledging the technology’s ability to efficiently comply with data sharing rules.
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PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
Australia’s Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) is urging its members to “future-proof” their businesses as the industry heads toward disruption. Reports in Money Management on Thursday (March 15) said the IPA’s Vice President, Sam Zervides, issued a statement encouraging accountants to collaborate and explore value-added services, particularly for small businesses (SMBs).
PYMNTS
MARCH 15, 2018
On Wednesday (March 14), the Senate passed legislation that would loosen the regulations placed on financial companies after the Great Recession, with the bill gaining bipartisan support. According to news from The Washington Post , the bill passed 67 to 31 and had the support of both Republicans and Democrats, despite contention within the Democrat party.
PYMNTS
MARCH 14, 2018
In an effort to attract millennials, Zara plans to integrate augmented reality into its stores this April. The retailer will bring the technology to 120 of its locations around the world, Reuters reported. With the technology, Zara will be able to show models wearing the latest fashions to customers when they put their mobile devices near a sensor within its brick-and-mortar stores or near certain shop windows.
PYMNTS
MARCH 13, 2018
Smart payments and integrated commerce firm i2c said Tuesday that it is opening an operations center in Omaha, Nebraska. That center will be operational during the second quarter of this year. The Omaha location will be used, the company said in a release Tuesday , to expand the account management, operations and client services divisions, and will also be the setting of a network operations center.
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.
PYMNTS
MARCH 14, 2018
Amazon, the leading eCommerce player, has made a push into the financial market in Mexico, rolling out a debit card this week for the first time ever. With Mexicans reluctant to shop online, Amazon is hoping to encourage more of it by providing a new way to purchase things. According to a report in Reuters, the debit card — called Amazon Rechargeable — is aimed at providing a new way to shop over the Internet.
PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
While almost 64 percent of Americans trust Amazon , only about 31 percent are willing to use Amazon’s in-home delivery service, InsuranceQuotes.com reported. The willingness of Americans to use the service, which is known as Amazon Key, differs by factors such as gender. While 40 percent of men are willing to use the service, only about 24 percent of women are willing use it.
PYMNTS
MARCH 14, 2018
“The important thing to remember here is this is a brand-new, very complicated space,” warned John Oliver on last weekend’s episode of “Last Week Tonight.” “Literally nobody knows how it’s going to develop, so you need to be careful.” Oliver was discussing cryptocurrencies and blockchain on his show, highlighting the massive potential the world of FinTech has touted for the last year or so.
PYMNTS
MARCH 15, 2018
New rules loom in the European Union for tech giants like Apple , Amazon and Google, Reuters reported. The European Commission is at work on a new proposal that aims to shape how online platforms — spanning eCommerce and mobile apps — rank search results. The draft regulation, as quoted by Reuters, targets what might be seen as harmful trading practices and states that “online intermediation services can hold superior bargaining power over their business users, enabling them to behave unilateral
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.
PYMNTS
MARCH 13, 2018
Today in PYMNTS data, Karen Webster discusses Amazon’s impact on consumers and grocery shopping as a whole. “The gulf between what consumers want and what grocery stores today deliver as consumers move regularly between the online and offline worlds is pretty big,” Webster noted. “On a scale of zero to 100, where zero is, well, zero, and 100 is a perfect score, grocery stores scored a pretty lousy 30, based on consumer responses and a statistical analysis of store features and functionality.”.
PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
Alibaba is enhancing its relationship with invoice financing company Qupital , reports in AsiaOne on Thursday (March 15) said. Their partnership means Alibaba small business sellers that are members of the platform’s Gold Supplier program will be linked to invoice financing via Qupital. The initiative follows Alibaba’s earlier investment in the alternative lender last May, marking Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund’s first investment in a Hong Kong company.
PYMNTS
MARCH 16, 2018
When the parking meter made its grand debut in 1935, it allowed municipalities to collect money in exchange for vehicles to be parked for a set amount of time. Simultaneously, it created the inconveniences of forcing motorists to locate change wedged in between seats to feed the meter, while also keeping track of time to avoid a parking ticket. Thankfully, today’s parking kiosks have moved beyond coin-operated solutions to accept dollar bills, credit and debit cards, mobile wallet and mobile app
PYMNTS
MARCH 15, 2018
L.L. Bean had been testing a data collection project that was attempting to determine the viability of the blockchain ledger for attaching sensors to coats and boots. The tests were scheduled to begin earlier this year and involved asking consumers to wear garments that would send information back to the Ethereum blockchain platform, which would have given L.L.
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.
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