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The Official Merchant Services Blog

Get the latest merchant services news, strategies, and announcements on the Official Merchant Services Blog.

Open Banking on Hold: CFPB Plans “Interim” Data-Sharing Rule Amid Funding Woes

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is poised to use an emergency interim final rule to carry out its new open banking framework, rather than completing the normal mul...

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Stripe’s “Agentic Commerce” Suite Ushers in the AI Shopping Revolution

Stripe has just launched a new Agentic Commerce Suite to help merchants sell directly to AI-driven shopping agents. In the era of agentic commerce, autonomous AI assistants can ha...

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Restaurants Embrace Cash Discounts as Card Fees Squeeze Margins

As restaurants struggle with inflation and thin margins, payment processing costs have become a significant concern. In the U.S., credit card processing is now the third-largest o...

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Real-Time Payments for Small Businesses — 2026 Trends to Watch: FedNow, RTP, and Instant Transfers

In a technologically advanced environment, people are tired of waiting for invoice payments and advocate for instant money movement. Today’s small businesses are discovering tha...

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E-Commerce Fraud & Chargebacks in 2026: Fighting Back Against Online Payment Scams

Online sellers are seeing a sharp rise in e-commerce fraud & chargebacks as we head into 2026. This “chargeback tsunami” is coming from both organized fraudsters and regul...

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Tap-to-Phone Payments: Turning Smartphones into POS Terminals

Smartphones have become full-fledged point-of-sale devices thanks to Tap-to-Phone (a type of SoftPOS) technology. With a simple NFC-enabled phone and payment app, even the smalles...

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Preparing for PCI DSS 4.0 Compliance in 2026

Meeting the new PCI DSS 4.0 compliance standards remains a significant challenge for merchants in 2026. Preparing for PCI DSS 4.0 is crucial for anyone handling credit card data, ...

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AI Meets Commerce: Personal Shopping Assistants and Agentic Payments

Advances in artificial intelligence are rapidly transforming how we shop and pay online. Today’s AI shopping assistants can converse with users, answer product queries, compare ...

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Bridging Cash and Digital: Fintech Solutions for the Cash Economy

The U.S. remains a cash-centric society even as digital payments grow. Studies show roughly 83% of adults used cash at least once in the last month, and cash still accounts for ab...

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