PYMNTS

What's next in payments, AI and the digital economy. Follow for expert insights and breaking news.

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

You cite PYMNTS Intelligence in your decks already. Now, turn that same research into authority for your own brand. 📊

Trendscapes Unpacked shows you how in 20 minutes on July 21. Hear from Karen Webster, CEO, John Gaffney, Chief Content Officer, Garrett Albanese, Chief Growth Officer, Yvonni Markaki, SVP and Head of PYMNTS Intelligence, and Brad Bava, SVP Sales, all at PYMNTS, on how one turnkey program builds authority and drives demand.

🎯 Claim your category and save your seat: https://t.co/isxPj0UBVF

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

The modern payments economy can approve a transaction in seconds, then leave recipients wondering where their money is days later. 

A new report from PYMNTS Intelligence and @VISADIRECT finds that "where's my payment?" inquiries have become one of the most persistent forms of friction across industries. 

Read the full report to see how faster payouts can close that gap: https://t.co/wC0pZrJne4

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Swift cuts ribbon on blockchain-based cross-border payments ledger.

Details here: https://t.co/S5nZCpK0Ou

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Purchase intent forms long before the payment screen, which is exactly why BNPL placement is becoming a merchandising decision.

PYMNTS Intelligence research with @PayPal found merchants using upstream Pay Later messaging recorded a 4.4% lift in overall sales, because shoppers weigh affordability while they're still comparing products.

Curious why waiting until checkout leaves money on the table? Dig into the findings: https://t.co/nytrmbiKi2

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

If you run a credit union, 61% of your members already call you their primary bank and 87% are highly satisfied. No FinTech comes close. New PYMNTS Intelligence research with @WeAreVelera asks the harder question: what is that relationship actually earning you?

Because at checkout, your card wins less than half the time, and every swipe you lose is interchange, data and engagement handed to a national bank.

Curious how to close that at the register? The report maps it out. Read on: https://t.co/TDv8gaHqix

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

1 in 8 Americans receive SNAP benefits right now, and roughly 1 in 2 will qualify at some point in their lives.

Ofek Lavian, CEO of @JoinForage, tells Karen Webster that's not a niche at the edge of grocery retail. It's the mainstream. His $40 million Series B is a bet that affordability itself is becoming retail infrastructure, with SNAP as the on-ramp, not the endgame.

Curious what investors saw beyond benefit processing? The full conversation lays it out on PYMNTS: https://t.co/Jr4kqRL0o3

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

🤝 @NiumGlobal acquires Cypher to bridge fiat and crypto.

Head over to PYMNTS for all the details: https://t.co/L69DF5WdNP

[Velera @WeAreVelera]

#SMBs aren't asking if their #CreditUnion will offer AI-powered experiences anymore. They're wondering, "What's taking so long?" Check out the @pymnts + Velera tracker: https://t.co/xfJguNVVEy

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

For years, Pay Later providers fought for attention at checkout through marketing and merchant placement.

New PYMNTS Intelligence research with Splitit suggests the next audience they'll have to win over isn't the shopper at all. It's the algorithm. If AI assistants start recommending financing, 61% of consumers would let them, and providers will compete on cost and credit impact instead of ad spend.

Learn why winning the algorithm may matter before winning the customer: https://t.co/3487hVN1ie

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Nine in 10 issuers say they're highly interested in smart basket rewards. But the more telling detail in new PYMNTS Intelligence research with @FISGlobal is the condition attached: they want it on tightly governed terms. Three in four expect these systems to hand them more control over targeting, merchant participation and offer timing.

Curious why "control" is the word issuers keep coming back to? The report gets into what they're unwilling to expose to outside partners: https://t.co/SCNwAesJIc

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

The processor invoice is the part of a debit program banks actually see.

PYMNTS Intelligence research with @GalileoFintech argues the expensive part is everything that never shows up on it: false declines, manual exception handling, fraud work and stalled product launches, all quietly eroding profitability month after month.

Curious where the money is slipping away? The report breaks down the hidden P&L most institutions never track: https://t.co/yXzj4G7hlB

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Turns out the channel mix isn't what separates the SMBs that grow from the ones that stall. New PYMNTS Intelligence research finds the real dividing line is whether a business formally tracks where its customers come from. Firms that do grew revenue at more than double the rate of those that don't, 51% versus 22%.

More on why measurement, not the perfect channel, is the strongest growth signal in the data: https://t.co/VMANP27zXG

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Consumers are ready to hand AI the checkout, up to a point. 

Nearly four in 10 have already used AI for a payment task, yet 59% say the tech cannot touch their credit score. What safeguards do shoppers want before they say yes? PYMNTS Intelligence and Splitit surveyed 2,000+ consumers to find out. 

Hear the highlights, then read The Pay Later Ecosystem Report: https://t.co/WHh5IPVabT

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Here's a question the spending headlines can't answer: if consumers are spending more, why are they buying less?

New PYMNTS Intelligence research finds that most of 2026's spending growth is price, not volume. People are paying more per unit and funding the difference by saving less, not earning more, which is why the savings rate just hit its lowest since mid-2022.

Learn why forecasts that read rising spending as healthy demand are about to overshoot: https://t.co/ZmOERhYfyp

[Karen Webster @karenmpd]

On June 30, an independent company called Open Standard launched a dollar stablecoin, Open USD, and 140 of the biggest names in money signed on. Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, BNY, Coinbase, Stripe. Circle's stock fell as much as 17% the same day. The market clearly read it as more than a press release.

Most of the commentary is fixed on one question: does OUSD crush Circle?

That's a fair fight to watch. It isn't mine.

Mine is whether a standard built this way, one billed as an independent consortium, but running on a chain Stripe co-incubated, minted by a firm Stripe owns, onboarded through a company Stripe acquired, and defaulted to millions of Stripe's merchants, can actually get adopted.

The name says consortium. The infrastructure says something different.

I ran it through the two tests every payment standard has to clear. FIT (Friction, Inertia, Time) and Ignition. And against the two standards that show how these things really scale: FIDO (won because nobody lost) and EMV (won because incumbents could force it thru a liability shift). OUSD has neither. Its economics are rivalrous, and it's convened by a challenger with no lever to make the powerful cede.

That doesn't close the door. It means OUSD needs a third path. A forcing function compelling enough that not adopting becomes the expensive choice. It's betting shared reserve yield is enough.

The launch answered the easy question. Can you assemble an impressive coalition and grab a headline. Every hard question stays open.

A rose, to paraphrase Juliet, that maybe smells as sweet. But Juliet never had to ask in whose garden it was growing.

🔗 https://t.co/KmhtgUWpZ0

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Fiserv President Dhivya Suryadevara resigns citing 'good reason' contract clause.

More details on PYMNTS: https://t.co/YBt8D6AyN0

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

The hard part of cross-border payments is no longer moving the money. 💸

AJ McCray, managing director and head of Global Payments Product at @BankofAmerica, tells PYMNTS the real challenge is delivering the certainty, visibility and immediacy people already take for granted domestically. Once a payment can cross borders and still feel local, the whole experience changes.

Learn what still stands between today's pilots and that standard: https://t.co/PzDaq6pE9N

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

About 80% of workers say their employer offers on-demand pay. Most rarely touch it.

PYMNTS Intelligence research with @IngoPayments and @WorkWhileAI finds earned wage access has solved availability, but not adoption, as workers keep reaching for familiar workarounds like borrowing from family or delaying bills.

Learn why product design and trust, not access, are the real barriers now: https://t.co/mYbypYe9p6

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

Wix and Elavon team to improve small business payments.

Full story on PYMNTS: https://t.co/aZhVts50Ro

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

There is roughly $30 trillion sitting in nostro and vostro accounts around the world. Stablecoins are starting to unlock it.

Prajit Nanu, CEO of @NiumGlobal, joins PYMNTS Summer School: Payments Reimagined on July 16 at 12:00 P.M. ET to break down how treasury teams are using stablecoin settlement in production today, where the real opportunity sits and what comes next as banks begin issuing their own.

Sign up now: https://t.co/mztrvc9lvJ

[PYMNTS @pymnts]

🏪 Stores are becoming hubs for money movement.

On July 22 at 12 PM ET, PYMNTS hosts Crystal Bryant-Minter (@GreenDotBank), Boris Goykhman (@PayPal) and Steve Kramer (PayNearMe) to explore how retailers are embedding payments, bill pay and financial services into the in-store experience and why physical locations still play a critical role in a digital-first world.

Register now to secure your seat: https://t.co/B3k01FCyAx