You walk into a store, grab what you need, and tap your phone to pay. No lines, no fuss, no second thoughts. Or maybe you're shopping online, where product suggestions seem to read your mind and checkout takes just a few clicks. That frictionless experience isn’t magic, it’s AI. From tap-to-pay and biometric authentication to personalized recommendations and real-time fraud detection, artificial intelligence is quietly powering the evolution of checkout.

The U.S. Faster Payments Council (FPC), a membership organization devoted to advancing safe, easy-to-use faster payments in the United States, today announced the release of a new research report from its Cross-Border Payments Work Group, sponsored by Mastercard, that explores how ISO 20022 messaging is enabling smarter, faster, and more inclusive cross-border payments.

We are now living in an “always-on” era. Constantly connected, we expect key services to be available 24/7. For financial service providers, this has heightened the pressure to develop digital assets – mobile apps, websites and online platforms – that can quickly satisfy customer needs. In the UK, for instance, it’s now the case that 40% of the adult population have digital-only bank accounts. 

Capitolis, the financial technology company, today announced additional strategic investments from leading global banks and venture capital firms. New bank investors Barclays and BNP Paribas join J.P. Morgan, an existing Capitolis investor, as well as Citi, Morgan Stanley, State Street, and UBS—all of which previously invested in this round.

Casap, the leader in intelligent automation for dispute and fraud operations, has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Emergence Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Primary Venture Partners, SoFi and others. This brings Casap’s total funding to $33.5 million and sets a new record for venture investment in the payment disputes category.

Ledgible, the leading digital asset tax and accounting platform for enterprises and institutions, today announced its partnership with BitGo, the leading infrastructure provider of digital asset solutions. The collaboration brings best-in-class tax reporting and compliance solutions to BitGo clients, rounding out BitGo’s offering with full tax lifecycle support.

Wirex, a global leader in Web3 payments and digital finance, has announced the integration of tGBP – a fully backed, on-chain representation of the British Pound Sterling – into its platform. This move enables over six million users across 130+ countries to access and transact with a regulated, fiat-pegged digital pound issued by a UK-based, FCA-registered cryptoasset firm.

As the world reacts to the launch of GPT-5.0, a new survey from spend management leader, Medius, reveals a mounting crisis for finance professionals already struggling to detect AI-generated expense fraud. With nearly a third (32%) of respondents admitting they wouldn’t recognize a fake expense report if it came across their desk, the arrival of a more powerful generative AI model threatens to only widen an already dangerous gap in business defences.

TruStage™, a leading insurance and financial services provider, announced key enhancements to the digital lending process, simplifying the insurance experience for both the borrower and their financial institution. The updated digital purchase solution gives customers the ability to opt-in to payment protection directly within their loan application, automatically integrating protection into loan documents.

Safeguarding means that customer money must be kept separate from the firm’s own money so that it is available to be returned if the firm fails.