NFC World

Britain’s payments industry overwhelmingly supports the government’s attempt to modernise the country’s retail payment infrastructure, but confidence in its ability to deliver the transformation is considerably less certain. UK payments changes wins industry backing Research from technology consultancy CI&T found that 82% of 350 UK payments leaders support the National Payments Vision, the government’s blueprint

Consumers may be embracing artificial intelligence for shopping, but most are not yet prepared to let an AI agent control the final and most sensitive part of the journey: payment. AI Shopping is taking off, but trust issues remain Only 23% of US consumers trust generative AI to handle payment transactions on their behalf, according

Stablecoins are moving trillions of dollars across public blockchains, but the numbers risk giving a misleading impression of their penetration into mainstream payments. The Stablecoin Volume Illusion Visa’s Onchain Analytics platform recently recorded $4.6tn of stablecoin transaction volume over 30 days. After filtering activity including bots, intra-exchange transfers and other potentially inflationary transactions, that figure

US Bank has completed a live cross-border transaction using its own dollar-backed stablecoin, becoming one of the latest major lenders to test whether blockchain technology can improve the movement of money between international banking operations. US Bank tests Stablecoin for Cross-Border Payments The transaction used USBDC, the bank’s proprietary US dollar-backed stablecoin, to transfer value

Artificial intelligence is already changing how consumers shop, but the leap from AI-assisted discovery to autonomous payments remains some distance away, according to Visa chief executive Ryan McInerney. AI Shopping has arrived — but not Agentic Payments Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, McInerney said consumers are increasingly using large language models

Anthropic has launched a blueprint enabling retailers to build AI-powered shopping and merchant agents using Claude, with support from Visa, Mastercard and Accenture. Anthropic brings Claude into commerce  The framework is aimed at retailers, travel companies, telecoms providers and ticketing businesses, allowing them to embed Claude-powered agents directly into their own digital channels rather than

Mobile wallet adoption continued to accelerate in the UK last year, with almost two-thirds of adults now registered for at least one service as digital payments become increasingly entrenched in everyday spending. UK mobile wallet adoption reaches 65% Some 65% of UK adults were registered for a mobile payment service in 2025, up from 57%

Saudi Arabia’s PayTabs has agreed to acquire Amazon Payment Services’ operations across the Middle East and North Africa in a deal valued at more than $100 million, in a transaction that will significantly increase the payments company’s regional scale. PayTabs to acquire Amazon Payment Services The acquisition, which has been approved by both companies, will

The European Central Bank and Banco Central do Brasil are examining whether Europe’s TIPS instant-payment infrastructure could be connected with Brazil’s hugely successful Pix network, potentially creating a new real-time payment corridor between Europe and Latin America. ECB and Brazil explore cross-border link  The ECB confirmed to Reuters that the two central banks are conducting

Wero is moving further beyond its origins as a peer-to-peer payment service, with Orange becoming the first merchant in France to offer subscription bill payments through the European Payments Initiative’s account-to-account platform. Wero expands merchant payments in France  The move allows customers of Orange’s Sosh mobile brand to settle subscription bills directly through their banking