Connected Devices, Instant Payments, Digital Shift Top This Week’s News

Connected Devices, Instant Payments, Digital Shift Tops This Week’s News

It was a busy week for commerce and payments, as consumers are harnessing connected devices for digital-first shopping and firms are looking to harness tools to speed up business-to-business (B2B) disbursements and payments.

 

The PYMNTS Weekender is here to catch you up on the latest news at the end of another busy work week. We have deep dives on connected devices, instant payments and what the digital shift means for customer expectations of card issuers.

News 

Mastercard: Why It’s Time For Card Issuers To Up Their Digital Game

Consumers’ digital shift means that customer expectations for their card issuers are higher than in the past.

Customers now anticipate rewards, mobile integration, spend-management offerings — and that transactions that feel immediate and seamless regardless of marketplace or platform.

How Visa, FIS, TCH, SWIFT, Nacha And Circle See The Future Of Faster, Real-Time Payments Rails 

Alan Koenigsberg, global head of new payment flows at Visa New Business Solutions, and five executives from services providers, payments and messaging networks and the crypto sphere said room exists for many payment rails to compete, exist together — and even complement one another.

Revolut Likely To Apply For US Bank Charter

Revolut, the European digital bank, is reportedly near applying for a U.S. banking license. The FinTech is reportedly likely to seek a charter with California’s Division of Financial Institutions and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco within the next few weeks.

FinTech N26 Mulls New Funding Round

N26, the Germany-based FinTech, is reportedly mulling seeking further investments next calendar year only months after a fundraising round that left the firm’s value at $3.5 billion.

What The Great Time Revolution Means For Consumers

During the past seven months, devices and mobile programs have provided a much less on-the-go consumer with two new superpowers: the opportunity to save time by migrating physical routines online, and the capacity to shift the days of the week once set aside for doing them.

Trackers and Reports

NEW DATA: How We Will Pay 2020: With Connected Devices, At Home And During The Week

In the How We Will Pay 2020: Home As The Consumer’s Commerce Command Center study, a Visa and PYMNTS collaboration, we polled a census-balance panel of just under 9,860 consumers to find out how consumers are harnessing their connected devices to participate in digital-first shopping experiences.

Fifth Third Bank: Business Cash Flow Pains Are Driving Instant Payments Uptake

Companies are looking to harness digital tools to accelerate B2B disbursements and payments — as well as to handle other parts of their treasury needs with more efficiency.

PYMNTS explores how the coronavirus has exposed the weaknesses of paper-based payments and what that signifies for the future of treasury.

New Data: The Six Digital-First Capabilities Consumers Now Want From Merchants 

PYMNTS research indicates that even though consumers initially started moving to shopping and paying online out of need, they are now doing so by choice. More consumers than in the past say they plan to keep shopping online because merchants’ digital capabilities work better than they did in the past.

Zelle: The Role Of AI In Stopping COVID-Related P2P Payment Scams 

Peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps face a double-edged cybercrime threat, with both account takeovers (ATOs) and scams targeting their users. PYMNTS explores how apps such as Zelle harness artificial intelligence (AI) to find suspicious transactions and provide clients with the necessary knowledge to spot scammers.

Fun, Cool and Otherwise Interesting

Consumers Feather Their Connected Home Nests

The far majority of consumers report already owning a minimum of one smart home device (91 percent), with a firm majority intending to buy more soon.

The Lures — And Challenges — Of Digital Fiat 

Beyond bitcoin is the potential of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The Federal Reserve, in one case, is working in conjunction with multiple other central banks and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to form a framework that would smooth the path to crypto issuance.

Savvy Merchants Meet Teens How And Where They Want To Buy

As younger consumers are shopping less in general and focusing what commerce they engage in on certain areas, merchants encounter a mounting challenge to capture the young consumer’s wallet.

Figures show the best way to do that is to provide young customers what they want in a climate where they suddenly want some very new things.

Travel Industry Sees Pent-up Demand Eclipsing Rising COVID Case Counts 

Despite the fact that coronavirus cases are beginning to increase domestically and internationally, airline and hotel industry executives are saying that seven months of pent-up consumer demand fares well for the future of the travel business.