In the kickoff to the Holiday shopping season, consumers are spending, with retail sales up 1.1% and e-commerce sales up 8.5% according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.
ChatGPT launched a year ago and the tech world will never be the same. The New York Times has an in-depth look at the impact of this revolutionary new product, focusing on big tech.
It is interesting to me that one of the greatest tech launches of the past decade came not from a big tech company but from an AI startup that was not even seven years old and was set up as a non-profit research lab.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) announced yesterday that he will not be seeking reelection to the North Carolina seat he has held for almost 20 years.
Over the years whether serving as the Committee Chairman or as the Ranking Member, he has been a tireless champion for financial innovation on the House Financial Services Committee.
Yesterday, the OCC issued new guidance for banks, addressing the risks of buy now pay later lending. The guidance focused on the popular "pay in 4" segment of BNPL.
Not surprisingly, the national bank regulator recommended tight oversight of third-party servicers, the importance of transparent loan terms and fraud mitigation.
Much has been written about the looming end to the Apple-Goldman Sachs relationship (we even produced a cartoon about it). And while this is a big deal for Goldman and Apple, the average Apple Card holder likely does not give it a second thought.
No, you did not wake up back in 2021 but there is news this morning of a €285 Million (over $300m) fintech funding round.
Germany-founded but London-based SumUp has closed the massive funding round that is "mostly equity" which tempers our initial enthusiasm somewhat. But even a nine-figure equity round is enough to make the news these days.
Twitter/X has been going state-by-state obtaining money transmitter licenses. The social media platform is now approved in 12 states.
Today, Google has announced a pilot program with Affirm and Zip to bring BNPL natively into the Google Pay wallet.
Consumers continue to choose BNPL as a payment option and its popularity continues to grow, particularly during the holiday shopping season.
Upgrade continues to break new ground in consumer fintech.
When the Upgrade Card launched in 2019, it was the first credit card ever to marry the benefits of a revolving line of credit with a fixed-rate installment loan.
We are moving to a world of instant payments but how we get there is still uncertain.
A blockchain-based payments system designed for central banks has just completed its first live transactions with the Bank of England. Created by Fnality, the system processed live payments from member banks, Lloyds, Santander and UBS.