Industry News

Nexi, the second largest merchant acquirer in Europe, has expanded its partnership with Zucchetti into Switzerland. Zucchetti provides software products to hospitality and retail sector customers.  The companies, which previously launched an integrated commerce and payment serve in Italy, will rollout into Austria and Germany this year.

Klarna, which provides flexible payment plans to more than 100 million consumers worldwide, has launched its Agentic Product Protocol, which makes products on the internet easy to discover and purchase. The protocol defines a common language for how AI systems, merchants and platforms exchange product data. Klarna’s APP gives AI systems access to a live, structured feed of more than 100 million products and 400 million prices standardized in 12 countries. 

Stripe has introduced Agentic Commerce Suite, a low-code technology created to help businesses get ready to sell through multiple AI agents. Through a single integration, businesses including ecommerce platforms BigCommerce, Wix, Etsy, Squarespace and WooCommerce and retailers Anthropologie, Coach and Urban Outfitters, will use Agentic Commerce Suite. Previously, Stripe launched Agentic Commerce Protocol, an open standard for agentic commerce.

PayPal Holdings has submitted an application to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to establish PayPal Bank, an industrial loan company. If approved, customer deposits at PayPal Bank would be eligible for FDIC insurance coverage. In addition to interest-bearing savings accounts, PayPal Bank will offer loans to small businesses. PayPal has provided access to $30 billion in loans and working capital to more than 420,000 business accounts worldwide since 2013.

Visa has launched a Stablecoins Advisory Practice, a suite of services designed to guide strategy and implementation of stablecoin programs, as part of its Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA) unit. Stablecoins offer the promise of speedier payments at lower cost. VCA is a global network of consultants, data scientists and product experts.

MassPay has integrated its proprietary orchestration platform with Visa Direct to offer businesses faster cross-border payouts to cards, bank accounts and digital wallets. Use cases include gig workers, marketplace sellers and independent contractors. The MassPay routing engine analyzes each transition in real time and automatically selects the most efficient path for delivery of funds based on speed, cost and compliance requirements.

Payoneer, which operates a financial platform that facilitates cross-border business and global payments, has selected Oscilar to modernize its fraud and risk intelligence across core payment systems. Oscilar's no-code risk decisioning platform leverages agentic AI and advanced signal processing to analyze complex data, detect anomalies and automate decisions for fraud, credit and compliance.

Newland Payment Technology's Android-based POS terminals will be distributed in North America by NewBold, which handles technology management for retailers and quick service restaurants. NewBold operates a PCI-certified infrastructure and nationwide service network that serves PSPs, gateways, ISVs and enterprise merchants in the US and Canada.

The Central Bank of Syria has formed a partnership with Visa. The immediate focus will be on developing a payment foundation for licensed financial institutions, including issuing payment cards and enabling digital wallets that use EMV chip and tokenization standards. The Visa Acceptance Platform will be made available to micro, small and midsize merchants to enable Tap to Phone and QR code payments.

Trulioo, provider of an identity verification platform for people and businesses, has joined Google’s Agent Payments Protocol initiative which aims to support agent-led payments. Google uses Trulioo Global Identity Platform for KYC (know your customer) verification, including for fraud prevention and abuse mitigation. AP2 creates a common language for how AI agents can initiate and complete transactions on behalf of users while maintaining transparency, authorization and compliance across ecosystems.

Worldpay, the second largest merchant acquirer globally, offers Authentication Optimization Service to merchants that deploy 3D Secure (3DS). The patent pending service uses AI and transaction insights to maximize payment approval rates by making real time decisions on when to apply 3DS to authenticate the transaction or directly authorize the payment based on factors such as risk and issuer preferences.  

UATP, which operates a global, closed-loop network for business travel payments, offers its airline customers the Card-Present over Internet (CPoI) technology of Burbank to process payments. CPoI turns mobile phones into POS devices. Buyers tap their payment card against their own mobile device and enter their PIN to complete online transactions, which are processed as card present payments. In card present transactions, fraud liability remains with the card issuer.

Fiserv, the second largest US merchant acquirer, is integrating with Mastercard’s Secure Card on File service and will act as a network token requester on behalf of merchants and partners. It will also adopt Mastercard Agent Pay Acceptance Framework to enable merchants to facilitate transactions from AI agents.

Interchecks, a US-based provider of account-to-account (A2A) payment services, will leverage Mastercard’s Open Finance verification tools to expand the capacity of its Pay by Bank product to include recurring and high-volume payments made via the ACH. The company, which has roots in the gambling industry, has identified opportunities for A2A payments in subscription billing, insurance and brokerage funding.

GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar, has expanded its Agent Name Service (ANS) to include ANS Marketplace, which features a set of curated AI agents that demonstrate practical use cases for small businesses and developers. Use cases are designed to help people understand how ANS-named agents can support real-world business workflows while remaining verifiable and accountable.

Unipass, a UK-based Payment-as-a-Service provider to software platforms, will support card present and online payment environments operated by Nayax. All payment channels will be managed by Unipass, to give SaaS platforms and their merchants a unified view across all channels.

Akamai, a cybersecurity and cloud computing company, has integrated with Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol. The partnership delivers identity, authentication and fraud controls to merchants to support AI agents that engage in commerce. Akamai provides edge-based behavioral intelligence, user recognition and bot and abuse protection. Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol will be supported across Akamai Cloud, the world’s most distributed cloud platform.

Vivi Money, an Australia-based fintech, will market Visa brand debit and prepaid travel cards to consumers. Novatii will handle the account processing and related issuance services.

Beyond by RS2, a business unit of RS2 Financial Services, has become a Principal Issuing Member of Mastercard in Europe. RS2 Financial is a provider of payment technology and processing (issuing and acquiring) services. Beyond by RS2 can launch and manage debit, credit and prepaid consumer and commercial payment card programs directly for fintechs, corporations and retailers.

Kurv (formerly Electronic Merchant Services) is offering the all-in-one Kurv Merchant App. Business owners can take payments immediately. Through a centralized dashboard they have access to account information, can generate custom QR codes, send payment links by text or email, create and send invoices, track inventory and operate sales and marketing campaigns.

Illumia is the new name for Transact + CBORD, a payment company focused on connected campus life—dining hall, tuition and other commerce. The company is a business unit of Roper Technologies.

United Mileage Plus Chase cardholders can earn two miles per dollar spent if they pay their rent through the Bilt rewards platform. Miles are provided on up the $50,000 in rent payments per calendar year.

Pismo, a Visa-owned company, will provide card account processing and related support services to Circle Asia Technologies for an AI-powered PayLater product to be launched in Vietnam in 2026.  The card is designed to help consumers build credit, even if they don’t have a bank account. It will also offer flexible installment features. Circle will handle risk management.

KLARNA, a provider of flexible payment services to more than 114 million active customers worldwide, has expanded its membership program in the US with the addition of Premium and Max plans. Member benefits include airport lounge access, travel insurance and lifestyle subscriptions. They are provided in partnership with WebBank, issuer of the Klarna Card, a debit product. Consumers that opt-in to Klarna Card can sign up for Core ($4.99 per month), Plus ($9.99 per month), Premium ($19.99 per month) or Max ($44.99 per month) memberships. More than 4 million people in the US have signed up for the Klarna Card
since July 2024.

SLOPE, a credit and risk infrastructure company backed by J.P. Morgan, will embed  its flexible payments (between two and six months) technology in the invoice platform of SaaS firm Elite, which serves the legal profession. Real-time risk assessment is handled by Slope’s AI-based proprietary underwriting.