Smaller enterprises are hitting a critical turning point. As long-time owners near retirement, many are looking to exit, but potential buyers are often held back by one persistent issue—outdated systems, especially in payments infrastructure. According to data from Zelle, nearly half of small business owners over 50 have no exit plan in place, and roughly 41% said they would shut down if they can’t find a buyer. However, fewer than a third of these owners report that their businesses are...

Organizations once had the luxury of reviewing suspicious transactions prior to settlement and clawing them back after the fact. But as both payments and fraud have accelerated, financial institutions are increasingly being pushed to move fraud prevention earlier in the payments lifecycle—ideally before a transaction ever occurs. In response, U.S. Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS)—which operates the FedNow instant payments system—is launching an API aimed at enhancing the security of...

When was the last time you used cash for a transaction? Many of us can go for months without resorting to cash for our daily business. The convenience of tapping a card is simply too alluring to consider using old-fashioned legal tender. In some areas, cash now accounts for less than 10% of all transactions. And of course, many transactions take place online, where cash is useless. The dream of a cashless society seems to be upon us — almost. Yet despite the ubiquity and convenience of...