Cleo announced a strategic partnership with Paystand, a B2B payments solution provider that works largely with retailers, manufacturers, distributors, and software vendors. Paystand can help retailers, manufacturers, distributors and software vendors automate their order-to-cash and accounts receivable (AR) processes, letting them collect revenue faster. Todd Kibisu, Channel Account Manager at Paystand. “Cleo’s platform automates the creation of sales orders and invoices in our customers’ ERP systems, and Paystand seamlessly takes over at this point by automating AR processes through the reconciliation of funds. Together, we’re enabling businesses to save time, reduce costs, and unlock new growth opportunities.” Through this collaboration, Paystand also delivers ecosystem integration to customers, offering: Streamlined Operations: Eliminate manual data entry for AR tasks and integrate directly with ERP, eCommerce, and accounting systems. Enhanced Visibility: Comprehensive views of payment transactions, improving tracking, reducing fees, and mitigating risks. Improved Customer Experience: Integration with CRM systems enables better customer support, communication, and overall management.
ACI Worldwide integrates major global networks’ capabilities into its cloud-native payments hub to offer account-to-account (A2A), card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention on a unified platform
ACI Worldwide has announced the integration of the major UK, EU and global networks’ payment capabilities into ACI Connetic, ACI’s transformative, cloud-native payments hub. These include Swift cross-border payments, RTGS payments including Target2, SEPA Instant RT1 and TIPS payments, with the addition of more capabilities planned. For the first time in the industry, ACI Connetic brings together account-to-account (A2A), card payments and AI-driven fraud prevention on a unified cloud-native platform – making it simpler, faster and more cost-effective for banks and financial institutions (FI) to modernize their payments infrastructures. It offers FIs unequalled scalability and resilience while minimizing risk and enabling them to deliver new services to customers much faster. Thomas Warsop, President and CEO of ACI Worldwide. ACI Connetic empowers financial institutions to unlock new revenue opportunities and navigate compliance in order to drive growth and financial inclusion. The platform’s cloud-native architecture, modular design and open APIs simplify integration with existing systems, speeding up deployment and time to value. Designed for financial institutions of any size, it is particularly suited for banks looking to modernize quickly and cost-effectively without sacrificing enterprise-grade capabilities. ACI is collaborating with the world’s leading clearing and settlement systems—including the Bank of England, Pay.UK, ECB, EBA Clearing, and Stet, as well as Swift, the Federal Reserve and The Clearing House—to integrate their payments capabilities to offer banks across the globe the most prolific payment methods as part of ACI Connetic. “We built ACI Connetic to give banks a future-proof foundation to meet the ever-increasing demand for faster, smarter and secure payments,” said Scotty Perkins, head of product for banking and intermediaries at ACI Worldwide. “Built for scalability, intelligence and resilience, ACI Connetic empowers banks to reduce complexity, accelerate product innovation and deliver new solutions to their customers in an unprecedented way and at unprecedented speed.”
Virtual accounts give banks the ability to rewire how payments create value, turning one-time payouts into always-on financial relationships
A growing number of banks are starting to see disbursements; not as the end of a process, but the start of a relationship. At the center of this shift is a powerful new strategy — virtual accounts. More than just a modern payment tool, virtual accounts give banks the ability to rewire how payments create value, turning one-time payouts into always-on financial relationships. Shifting the focus from virtual accounts as a tactic to virtual accounts as a strategy is important to driving momentum against that shift. Because virtual accounts allow banks to move beyond simply sending money to a recipient’s existing account at another financial institution or FinTech digital wallet. Instead, they offer the chance to issue a branded digital account to those receivers instantly and at scale. And they can do that where funds are deposited, and this is where the opportunity for new engagement around that account begins. For financial institutions, traditional disbursements often generate little future value beyond the corporate account that wants to move the money to a recipient. Thinking about virtual accounts as a strategy flips the economics. Instead of seeing static money, recipients gain faster access to funds, financial management tools, and even rewards. Banks gain new revenue streams, behavioral insights, and lasting customer relationships. For banks under pressure to innovate and differentiate, this strategy offers a powerful competitive edge. The magic of virtual accounts is in their ability to close the loop inside of an existing bank ecosystem. Funds don’t just exit the bank. They stay in branded environments where they can be spent, transferred or saved.
Startup Tensec is building a Stripe-styled no-integration platform for global trading companies to enable them to offer cross-border payments, FX and treasury services to their SMB clients
Tensec, a startup founded by ex-Rapyd, Meta, and Goldman Sachs executives, has raised $12 million in seed funding to take on the $190 trillion B2B cross-border payments market. Tensec wants to provide global trading companies and their clients access to cross-border real-time payments and transaction banking services that have historically been available only through large financial institutions. The firm uses AI, real-time payments and a global fintech infrastructure to create a no-integration platform that enables global trading companies to offer FX services, cross-border payments, treasury and more to their SMB clients. The company is already working with customers who facilitate $10 billion in annual trade volume.
Mastercard sandbox to offer banks access to its ISO 20022-compliant fifth generation account-to-account (A2A) real-time payments infrastructure for testing payment use cases across retail, peer-to-peer (P2P), and B2B transactions
Mastercard has developed a sandbox where financial institutions can experiment with the latest instant payments technology. The sandbox gives banks access to Mastercard’s fifth generation account-to-account (A2A) real-time payments infrastructure. Within this environment, UK financial institutions can test payment use cases across retail, peer-to-peer (P2P), and B2B transactions. For example, the sandbox will enable institutions to implement a “5-leg credit transfer,” allowing a consumer to make a real-time payment at a merchant with the retailer receiving instant confirmation. According to Mastercard, the merchant and their financial institution would also receive richer data from these transactions, as the sandbox will adhere to the ISO 20022 format. While there are benefits to ISO 20022 adoption, many financial institutions—especially small- to mid-tier banks—have yet to achieve compliance. Beyond the costs associated with upgrading, a key reason for hesitation is concern around risk and fraud. This is where the sandbox model can provide value for highly regulated financial institutions looking to adopt emerging technologies. For example, artificial intelligence has become one of the most transformative technologies in recent years. Yet, many financial institutions worry it could make errors or jeopardize sensitive customer data. In response, Nvidia launched its own sandbox, allowing UK banks to experiment with AI and uncover use cases in a controlled setting. This approach helps financial institutions stay competitive while minimizing exposure to risk.
FIS’s new turnkey, cloud-native solution is core agnostic and enables banks to connect to multiple payment networks and process payments within one platform via a single API
FIS has launched its Money Movement Hub, an innovative payments solution that helps to simplify the back-end infrastructure of financial institutions by enabling them to connect to multiple payment networks and process payments in one place. Designed as a turnkey solution for a wide range of institutions – from super regional banks to community banks – the Money Movement Hub supports a modernized payments journey that can change with each client’s needs. The flexible, cloud-native platform is core agnostic and allows banks to start with the payment types they need today, then add new capabilities over time through a “pay-as-you-grow” model. It delivers unified and secure money movement experiences that can be embedded across a variety of customer channels, helping institutions meet digital demands quickly and efficiently. The FIS Money Movement Hub helps to harmonize the payments ecosystem within a financial institution by facilitating the integration of major payment networks within one solution, via a single API. As well as helping to reduce complexity for organizations, the solution can increase the accuracy of payments, improve liquidity, and help to quickly remediate security risks. This innovative payments hub responds to evolving consumer demands for faster and more efficient payments, as well as regulatory changes, and aims to transform financial institutions’ money movement capabilities. Features of the FIS Money Movement Hub: Unified Integration; Cloud Native; Built-in Fraud Controls.
Lithic expands its card issuing platform to enable fintechs to issue debit, credit and prepaid cards on the American Express network
Lithic announced the expansion of its platform to enable fintechs to issue cards on the American Express® network. Fintechs of all sizes now have the opportunity to apply to develop and scale innovative payments solutions for consumers and businesses with access to the American Express network. “By empowering fintechs to issue cards on the American Express network, our customers now have a differentiated product choice that can deliver exceptional value to their users,” said Bo Jiang, CEO of Lithic. Lithic will unlock a new network option for fintechs looking to launch card products, with the global acceptance and trusted reliability of the American Express network, paired with Lithic’s modern and scalable card issuing platform. “The partnership helps fintechs and other industry disruptors launch payment products and capabilities quickly and easily on the Amex network, while providing access to our differentiated brand, assets and expertise,” said Will Stredwick, SVP and GM of Global Network Services for North America at American Express.
Bluevine enables small business owners to create professional invoices and secure payment links that can be sent by email, text, custom links, or social media for free while getting paid directly into their Bluevine accounts
Bluevine has launched Invoicing and Payment Links to allow Bluevine customers to create and share professional invoices and payment links within minutes. Small businesses can now get paid faster and accept multiple payment methods while getting paid directly into their Bluevine accounts. The launch brings a new level of sophistication and ease to businesses that have traditionally been underserved by other banking and payment platforms. Bluevine’s Invoicing and Payments Links make it easy for small business owners to create professional invoices and secure payment links that can be sent by email, text, custom links, or social media for free, with owners only having to pay processing fees. Via Stripe, Bluevine customers can get paid via credit card, debit card, digital wallets, or ACH direct debit payments. Stripe’s trusted payment processing infrastructure brings enterprise-grade speed, reliability, and security to invoicing in Bluevine’s all-in-one platform. These features will add more value for Bluevine’s diverse base of business customers including accounting and consulting firms, contractors and tradespeople, medical practices, and many more. The tools are designed to eliminate the friction of chasing payments and juggling multiple platforms. Key features of Bluevine Invoicing and Payment Links include: Free professional invoicing, Easy, secure payment links, More ways to get paid.
Forge launches GameLink and PayLink, a link-in-bio with payments built for games providing a centralized hub for any game to connect purchase, content, community, and launch a direct-to-consumer experience within minutes
Forge, the platform for community-driven game marketing and engagement, announced Forge GameLink and PayLink, a groundbreaking Link-in-Bio product purpose built for game studios and publishers. Building on Forge’s mission to empower game developers and foster direct connection with players, GameLink provides a centralized hub for any game to connect purchase, content, community, and launch a direct-to-consumer experience within minutes. Forge PayLink enables any game developer to link out from their existing in-app purchase flow and seamlessly integrate payment processing, without disrupting the checkout process. Additionally, games can feature their SKUs directly on their GameLink. Game developers can use PayLink to increase their revenue by up to 35% with just a few minutes of integration. Unlike traditional game websites which serve as static landing pages, Forge GameLink offers developers and publishers the ability to create dynamic, customizable and easily managed Link-in-Bio style landing and community hub for their game. Forge GameLink is integrated into the recently announced Forge Direct suite, enabling a seamless upgrade path to a full featured customizable community portal complete with quests, loyalty rewards, and direct-to-player commerce. Additionally, games can directly list SKUs on their Forge GameLink for purchase. Mobile games can link to their SKUs via PayLink to seamlessly provide support for existing MOR and alternative payment options within their existing in-app checkout experience. By providing direct payment processing options, games can boost revenue and provide increased retention through loyalty, rewards, and other incentives with the Forge platform.
NFC Release 15 extends operating volume of NFC-enabled devices 4X to 2cm to enable support for longer-distance connection and more complex, sensitive interactions such as Tap to Mobile and Multi-Purpose Tap on compact devices
NFC Release 15 is comprised of Specification Release 15 and Certification Release 15. The former are the technical standards to implement NFC capability in products, and the latter, the testing program to certify compliance to these standards. To align with NFC Release 15, users of newer generations of NFC enabled devices in reader mode will experience seamless connection and faster transaction. Increasing the operating volume across all NFC enabled devices – especially those that have a smaller form factor – while ensuring compatibility with ISO/IEC 14443, has been technically complex to achieve. The engineers working on the advancement had to be mindful of product design requirements, delicately managing a balance between improved performance and maintaining the antenna size. This thorough investigation has led to a 4x greater operating volume – extending the current range of 0.5cm to 2cm. Consumers stand to gain the most. A larger more stable operating volume makes the connection faster and more consistent and reduces occasions where consumers may need to tap or align devices more than once. There are many markets that will also benefit from this enhancement. For example, optimizing NFC usability within automotive; increasing read range to enable quicker throughput volumes within sectors such as public transport and transit; as well as enabling NFC to be used in new environments where connection points need to be at a greater distance. NFC is being integrated into increasingly compact devices that are expected to handle more complex, sensitive interactions – such as Tap to Mobile solutions that allow smartphones to accept payments, or Multi-Purpose Tap use cases where a single tap unlocks multiple functions. These applications demand higher reliability and a broader operating range to succeed.