Новости за 05.04.2024

Meta Platforms asked a judge Friday (April 5) to throw out an antitrust lawsuit filed against it by the Federal Trade Commission. In a court filing, the tech company disputed the FTC’s claims that its purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp reduced competition and harmed consumers, Bloomberg reported Friday. Meta said the two platforms have become as successful as they are because it supported […]

LinkedIn has long been a fundamental part of the B2B economy, now topping 1 billion users. Now it’s showing signs of stepping further into the connected economy. Those signs come in two forms: Reports in late March showed that the B2B social platform — which booked $4 billion in advertising in 2023 — had added […]

This week in artificial intelligence (AI) news, the U.S. and the U.K. are collaborating on safety tests for advanced AI technologies. Tech giants like Google and Microsoft have formed a task force to prepare workers for the AI era, addressing the urgent need for AI skills in evolving job markets. In venture capital, AI has shifted from a hot […]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is monitoring the increasing payment of “discount points” by homebuyers and the potential risk this may pose to consumers. The percentage of homebuyers paying discount points doubled from 2021 to 2023, and the increase was even greater among those with lower credit scores, the agency said in a Friday […]

Consumers want loyalty rewards, but not if it means having to work their way through a complicated digital interface. Retailers including Albertsons and PetSmart are updating their programs to meet this demand for streamlined experiences. Albertsons announced Wednesday (April 3) the debut of a streamlined loyalty experience, shifting to a single points-based system, enabling automatic rewards redemption and more. “Our loyal for […]

Stord has acquired ProPack Logistics to expand its fulfillment network throughout the United States and Canada. ProPack, which provides fulfillment services for the nutrition and supplement product industry, has six temperature-controlled warehouses across North America, the companies said in a Friday (April 5) press release. These facilities complement Stord’s network of five fulfillment centers and strategic partner facilities across […]

Unemployment dropped 3.8% last month, offering another sign that the U.S. economy is on a slow but steady upward trajectory. And while this news is worth celebrating, it’s worth remembering that there is still a significant portion of U.S. consumers who struggle to make ends meet — especially when faced with unexpected expenses. As PYMNTS […]

Barely a week following the launch of Xiaomi’s highly anticipated electric car, which catapulted the electric vehicle (EV) market into the limelight, other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are once again dominating headlines, indicating an ongoing shift in the market landscape. On Thursday (April 5), Swedish automotive giant Volvo announced that it had set a global all-time […]

Amadeus and Taxera Technologies partnered to enable streamlined, secure and automated eInvoicing for travel sellers worldwide. The collaboration will add Taxera’s global tax compliance capabilities to the Amadeus Agency Manager and Amadeus Gestour travel technology platforms, the companies said in a Thursday (April 4) press release. “Thanks to this automated technology, travel sellers will be able to concentrate on offering personalized services to customers, […]

TD Bank Group and Google Cloud have partnered to streamline the bank’s development and deployment of new applications. The collaboration aims to accelerate the rollout of new features and financial products, enabling “innovative banking experiences,” the companies said in a Friday (April 5) press release. “Together with Google Cloud, we are positioned well to continue […]

Vroom completed the previously announced wind-down of its eCommerce and used vehicle dealership businesses. The company ended transactions through vroom.com, completed previously contracted transactions, sold “substantially all” of its used vehicle inventory and paid off a vehicle floorplan financing facility, Vroom said in a Thursday (April 4) filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company’s other businesses — United Auto […]

Wages are increasing.  The unemployment rate’s lower.  The U.S. economy added more jobs in March than had been expected. And yet, it all may not be enough to offset the pressures confronting consumers living paycheck to paycheck.  As reported Friday (April 5), and per data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers added 303,000 non-farm […]

How a company spends money — well, that tends to define its strategy. As for how a firm makes money, that all boils down to and supports its business model. And with Google reportedly considering charging people to use its premium generative artificial intelligence (AI) features as it looks to balance ad revenues from its […]

Apple is reportedly laying off 614 employees. The company gave notice of the job cuts on March 28 and those cuts will take effect on May 27, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Friday (April 5), citing California state records. Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment. The state records did not […]

PayToMe.co integrated Stripe Connect to scale globally and enhance its payments solutions for platforms and marketplace. The integration will facilitate onboarding, global payouts, payment compliance and know your customer processes, with solutions tailored to the needs of more than 100 countries, the FinTech platform said in a Friday (April 5) press release. “Integrating Stripe Connect propels PayToMe.co into a […]

Forage now provides retailers with an omnichannel Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) processing solution. The payment processor has expanded into in-store EBT processing, a service that joins the online EBT processing it has offered since 2022, Forage said in a Friday (April 5) press release emailed to PYMNTS. “Today, more than 80% of groceries are purchased in-store,” Ofek […]

Laura Sullivan, senior product manager at Form3, told PYMNTS in an interview that as faster payments gain ground in the United States, fraudsters are lying in wait. “Everybody feels like the scammers just have not caught up with instant payments just yet,” Sullivan said. As she noted, the RTP® Network, sponsored by The Clearing House, has been around […]

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is igniting a new era of innovation within the back office. No legacy process is safe. And this is particularly true for accounts payable (AP) programs, where AI, coupled with advancements in deep learning, computer vision and natural language processing (NLP), is helping drive increased efficiency, accuracy and cost savings for […]

As retailers look to find the right combination of technology and human labor to boost their profit margins, Amazon and Walmart have both made changes to how they approach self-checkout in stores. Amazon is replacing its Just Walk Out technology at Amazon Fresh stores with its smart shopping cart, the Amazon Dash Cart. “We’ve … heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of […]

Real-time payments continue to gain global momentum in 2024. Two new national players joined the scene in March, and others are introducing significant advancements to their services. Real-Time Payments in Qatar Leading digital financial institution (FI) Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) recently introduced the Fawran instant payment service. Users can access the service through the QIB […]

In compiling the “U.K. Edition of the 2024 Global Digital Shopping Index,” PYMNTS Intelligence found that when compared to consumers in other regions, U.K. consumers are highly receptive to digitally-enhanced shopping features. The report found that by strategically integrating digital tools to support both online and in-store shopping experiences, U.K. merchants stand to benefit, especially […]

Deal-making dominated the headlines this past week as the FinTech IPO Index lost 2.9%. Nuvei’s stock gained 2.4%. As reported by PYMNTS, Nuvei is being taken private in a $6.3 billion deal with private equity firm Advent International. Nuvei CEO Philip Fayer will reportedly control nearly a quarter of the equity in the private company […]

In a landmark move, the U.S. and U.K. have joined forces to develop safety tests for advanced artificial intelligence (AI), an initiative experts widely applaud as a critical step forward. The agreement aims to align the two countries’ scientific approaches and accelerate the development of robust evaluation methods for AI models, systems and agents. It’s […]

Finzly has launched a new solution designed to help banks of all sizes participate in the embedded banking market. The new Account Galaxy includes virtual account and virtual ledger capabilities, the provider of modern money movement systems to financial institutions said in a Thursday (April 4) press release. “With Account Galaxy, banks can cost-effectively enable the integration of banking […]

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and AXA are jointly developing a global business-to-business (B2B) risk management and prevention platform and associated software services. AXA, an insurance and asset management firm, will leverage AWS analytics capabilities to add services for existing clients and AWS clients through the AXA Digital Commercial Platform (DCP), the companies said in a Thursday (April […]