Toy and game companies are seeing sales declines, as parents opt to spend on making memories for their children rather than on new products for them. Toys and entertainment giant Mattel, for instance, reported in its first-quarter 2024…
TikTok has suspended a rewards program on TikTok Lite amid a dispute with European Union (EU) regulators. “TikTok always seeks to engage constructively with the EU Commission and other regulators,” the TikTok Policy Europe account said in…
America’s consumer finance watchdog is targeting “junk fees” in the mortgage industry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published findings Wednesday (April 24) showing that mortgage servicers — the companies responsible for…
The clock is running out on TikTok’s U.S. ambitions. President Joe Biden on Wednesday (April 24) signed a bipartisan measure that gives TikTok’s owner, Chinese tech giant ByteDance, nine months to a year to sell the video-sharing social…
Synchrony Financial reported its Q1 earnings Wednesday (April 24), showing broad-based growth throughout its lending and credit platforms, continued momentum in consumer spending and some concern over a decrease in revenue from the…
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is blasting the FTC’s new ban on non-compete clauses. Soon after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) imposed the ban on Tuesday (April 23), the business lobbying group said it would sue to block the measure.…
Equipment finance company Odessa has entered the auto industry. The company has launched an originations platform called Odessa Auto and plans to grow it into a full-service end-to-end auto finance suite, Odessa said in a Wednesday (April…
Cross-border payments platform Nium and payments processor Thredd have expanded their partnership. As Thredd said in a Wednesday (April 24) news release, this expansion will allow Nium issue virtual cards in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.…
Splitit has launched a solution that enables banks and card issuers to offer installment plans to their customers at a merchant’s checkout. The new FI-PayLater allows financial institutions (FIs) to connect directly into Splitit’s card…
Earnings season is less than two weeks old. By and large, the data and the press releases indicate that consumers are still spending, on experiences especially, and are using their cards to do so. But here and there, management commentary…
Card issuing platform Marqeta has launched a partnership with U.K.-based, entrepreneur-focused digital bank OakNorth. The collaboration will see Marqeta offer a commercial card for OakNorth’s business banking clients, with the Marqeta…
Foot Locker has unveiled its “store of the future” in Wayne, New Jersey. This new retail format will inform the footwear and apparel retailer’s global refresh, as information gleaned from it will be incorporated into new stores, Foot…
Despite outsized growth in Click-and-Mortar™ shopping opportunities in Brazil during the last three years, retailers there still don’t offer 39% of the digital features consumers want. This is just one finding from PYMNTS Intelligence’s…
The global electric vehicle (EV) marketplace is seeing demand suffer under ongoing macro pressures. That’s why, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it’s a good thing that Tesla is not an EV company — it is a next-generation autonomy and…
Google has once again delayed plans to eliminate third-party cookies on its Chrome browser. The tech giant made that announcement Tuesday (April 23) evening, soon after a British regulator expressed concerns about Google’s proposed…
Airwallex has expanded its payment acceptance solution to the United States. With this service, U.S.-based merchants can accept payments from both domestic and international customers, and foreign merchants with U.S. entities can provide a…
Uber and Klarna have joined forces to offer users new ways to pay for rides and deliveries. The collaboration, announced Wednesday (April 24), lets users in the U.S., Germany and Klarna’s home country Sweden use Klarna’s Pay Now option to…
Brite Payments now enables instant account-to-account (A2A) payments and payouts in Germany. The Swedish FinTech already offers these Brite Instant Payments in the Nordics, Baltics and Benelux and plans to continue expanding their…
Airlines must automatically refund travelers for canceled flights under a new Department of Transportation rule. This rule, announced Wednesday (April 24) is designed to make it easier for passengers to get refunds if a flight is canceled…
America’s leading consumer finance watchdog is skeptical about giant mergers between credit card companies. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra expressed these worries in a Wednesday (April 24) interview with…
Small businesses don’t want embracing modern technology to be a big, technical lift. After all, these Main Street-style companies are increasingly busy building out their growth plans and managing a laundry list of unpredictable daily…
Small-business-focused payments/card solutions company myPOS has named Mario Shiliashki as its new CEO. Shiliashki, the company announced Wednesday (April 24) in a news release provided to PYMNTS, “brings a global view of payments, having…
Consumer financing solutions can help businesses build trust and loyalty with consumers, Versatile Credit CEO Ed O’Donnell writes in the new PYMNTS eBook, “The Implications of Uncertainty.” As we end the first quarter of 2024, businesses…
Working capital enables companies to avoid disturbances in operations in the short term and power growth in the long term. In the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region, 58% of Growth Corporates used working capital…
Unexpected expenses can pack a financial punch for any consumer, but for those who are already dealing with credit-related issues, the blow can be especially devastating. Take the credit marginalized, for instance: consumers who have been…
Data modeling can guide businesses refine strategies and optimize outcomes in uncertain times, Franklin Madison CEO Robert Dudacek writes in the new PYMNTS eBook, “The Implications of Uncertainty.” Confidently knowing where we’re going…
Financial crime intelligence provider ComplyAdvantage has acquired tech company Golden. As ComplyAdvantage noted in a Wednesday (April 23) news release sent to PYMNTS, Golden is “automating the construction of one of the world’s largest…
Online lender Enova International reported growing lending volume and solid credit performance for the first quarter. During the quarter ended March 31, Enova’s combined loans and finance receivables increased 23% year over year, reaching…
Square has expanded the availability of offline payments to every hardware device, in every country. The company has offered this no-connection-required solution for 10 years on some of its devices, expanding it to a growing number of…
Brightwell has launched a platform designed to let businesses deliver cross-border payments to their customers. The new Latitude platform does so based on the customer’s currency, location and payment method, the global payments technology…